Ministry of Public Health is preparing to implement a set of guidelines for diabetic patient care in Qatar, a senior official has said.
‘National Guidelines for Diabetic Patient Care,’ will specify different stages and methods of treatment which would help to manage the disease and avoid complications in an effective way, according to Dr Sheikha Anoud bint Mohamed al-Thani, director, Health Protection and Non-Communicable Diseases Department, Ministry of Public Health.
Guidelines will be implemented prior to the launch of national screening and early detection of diabetes for all adults as part of implementing Qatar National Diabetes Strategy 2016-2022, she said on the sidelines of the International Diabetes Leadership Forum, which concluded yesterday.
The screening programme is likely to be launched by 2018. National Guidelines for Diabetic Patient Care will categorise the types of treatment and medicines that can be provided by health centres and secondary care hospitals for diabetes and its complications. It will also state how patients can take care of themselves.
“Guidelines will help in managing diabetics in the country and control the cost of treatment,” she added.
During the two-day event experts discussed and shared experiences of managing and preventing diabetes. They highlighted on practices which could help Qatar implementing Qatar National Diabetes Strategy
2016-2022.
Plenary sessions were held under the theme of Qatar National Diabetes Strategy 2016-2022: awareness and prevention, capacity and capability building, screening and research.
“During the forum we looked at ways to benefit from regional and international experiences and find the best methods to implement prevention, awareness, screening, patient empowerment, capacity building and research, the main pillars of Qatar National Diabetes Strategy,” said Dr Sheikha Anoud.
Qatar is looking at the best practices and will adopt more beneficial and cost effective method, she pointed out.
“We will try the best for us. For example to develop a screening programme, we heard about the UAE experience on national screening programme. So we will see how they did, what challenges they faced and how they succeeded. We will avoid their mistakes and take the lessons,” she stated.
According to the Qatar National Diabetes Strategy 2016-2022, a special programme for awareness and prevention of diabetes will be introduced within 2016. This will be followed by developing and providing continuous education for healthcare personnel providing diabetes care by 2017, launching of a national screening and early detection programme for all adults by 2018.
“We will design tailor-made awareness programmes for different category of people. We will study the community and how we can deliver the message. Also healthcare workers dealing with diabetes cases will undergo continues training before launching the national screening project,” Dr Sheikha Anoud added.