The building of the Ministry of Interior was lit up in blue to mark the World Diabetes Day yesterday. The move is aimed to create public awareness of diabetes prevention and care.
Doha: Hamad Medical Corporation (HMC) will open a clinic that could revolutionise the way type 2 diabetes is treated in Qatar.
Based on a recent research study on people with Type 2 diabetes, the new diabetes reversal clinic is set to open at HMC, said Chair of HMC’s Qatar Metabolic Institute’s (QMI) Research Committee, Dr. Shahrad Taheri.
“A recent study has found that Type 2 diabetes could be reversed in more than 60 percent of participants through dietary change, physical activity, and behaviour change,” said Dr. Taheri while speaking at a webinar held as part of the WISH Doha Healthcare Week yesterday.
“We are now going to take the findings from the research study into the clinic,” said Dr. Taheri, who is also a Senior Consultant at HMC, and a Professor at Weill Cornell Medicine-Qatar (WCM-Q).
Diabetes Reversal Clinics would register patients who are motivated to treat their diabetes through lifestyle modification.
“Through the new clinic we could see more people reverse diabetes, removing the need for lifelong medical care and other complications due to diabetics,” said Dr. Taheri.
The study titled ‘Effect of intensive lifestyle intervention on bodyweight and glycaemia in early type 2 diabetes (DIADEM-I): an open-label, parallel-group, randomised controlled trial’ was conducted by teams from HMC’s QMI, Primary Health Care Corporation (PHCC), Qatar Diabetes Association (QDA), WCM-Q, and was funded by the Qatar National Research Fund (QNRF).
According to Dr. Taheri, the study included participants aged between 18 and 50 years and diagnosed with type 2 diabetes within 3 years.
The randomly chosen group of people has undergone the best medical care for diabetes with intensive lifestyle intervention therapy that included dietary change, physical activity, and behaviour change for 12 months.
Among the participants, some 61% have seen their blood sugars were no longer in the diabetes range.
“The study has shown that early intervention with life style changes can help people reverse the condition in people diagnosed with type 2 diabetes,” said Dr. Taheri.
The webinar on ‘Diabetes prevention in Qatar’ coincided with World Diabetic Day observes yesterday.
It highlighted diabetes screening, referral to diabetes prevention programmes, and successful participation in these programmes as proven strategies for preventing or delaying the onset of type 2 diabetes in people at high risk for developing the disease.
The webinar featured Head of the Non-Communicable Diseases Department at the Ministry of Public Health (MoPH), Dr. Kholoud Al Mutawa; Director QMI, Professor Abdul Badi Abou Samra; Senior Consultant and Executive Director of Operations at PHCC, Dr. Samya Al Abdulla; and Consultant and Head of the Endocrinology, Diabetes and Metabolism Department of Medicine at HMC, Dr. Mahmoud A. Zirie.
They highlighted the importance of prevention, early detection and management of diabetics. The discussion also shed light on the strategies, facilities and services available in Qatar related to diabetes.
Dr Al Mutawa highlighted that MoPH in collaboration with the Ministry of Education and Higher Education is working to implement policies which promote healthy lifestyle among students.
