Doha: A specialised diabetes treatment unit will be opened at Al Khor Hospital as part of plans to replicate the National Diabetes Center across all hospitals within the Hamad Medical Corporation (HMC), said a senior official.
Like its counterparts at Hamad General Hospital and Al Wakra Hospital, the Centre at Al Khor Hospital will take a multi-disciplinary approach to caring for patients and provides a ‘one stop shop’ that offers all specialties and services from initial screening through to treatment, health education and the provision of medication and equipment.
“We planned a diabetes centre at Al Khor Hospital,” Prof Abou Badi Abou Samra, Chairman of Internal Medicine, Hamad Medical Corporation (HMC) told The Peninsula.
The diabetes centre at Al Wakra Hospital was the second in a chain of planned facilities that are designed to provide improved access to specialised diabetic care in Qatar.
“The National Diabetes Center at Hamad General Hospital (HGH) was opened in 2013 and receives about 2,000 adult and 700 paediatric patients each month. This number has doubled during 2016. The National Diabetes Center at Al Wakra Hospital opened a year later, in 2014, and receives approximately 400 patient visits each month. Offering a multi-disciplinary approach to patient care, the Centres provide patients with improved access to specialised treatment,” said Professor Abou Samra.
National Diabetes Center at the Hamad General Hospital also undertakes diabetes research in which patients are interviewed in order to generate data about the pathos-genesis of the condition. Staffed by senior consultants, nurses, diabetes educators, dietitians and podiatry technicians, the Center at Al Wakra Hospital provides a range of services for adults from general consultation, foot care, screening for diabetic retinopathy and insulin pump therapy.
In addition to providing patients with specialised treatment, HMC is focused on informing the public about the causes, symptoms and complications of Type 2 diabetes and other lifestyle related diseases. “The main risk factors for type 2 diabetes include family history of diabetes, being overweight, old age, a low level of physical activity and a history of gestational diabetes. If you have more than one of these risk factors, it is important to get tested," said Professor Abou Samra.
