Dr Hanif Hassan, UAE Minister of Health has announced a ground breaking Diabetes skills and training program to address the growing problem of Type 2 Diabetes in the United Arab Emirates.
The initiative was announced at a ceremony inaugurating a cooperation agreement between the UAE Ministry of Health and Meduknowledge Services in the presence of sole sponsor Merck Serono Middle East.
The agreement was signed at ministry’s office in Dubai by Dr. Mahmoud Fikri, Executive Director for Health Policies at the ministry, Dr. Salah El Badawi, Director of Diabetes Program and Dr. Amr El-Saddik, Communication Director of MeduKnowledge Services.
Dr. Mahmoud Fikri, Executive Director for Health Policies at the MOH said: “This cooperation agreement is an excellent example of the Public and Private sector joining hands with a common goal of improving health outcomes for UAE residents.
We welcome the support of Merck Serono in this new initiative and expect positive results for the future.” He explained that according to this agreement, the American Association of Clinical Endocrinologists (AACE) will randomly select 200 doctors to participate in phase one of the initiative.
The group will be evenly comprised of doctors that have not undergone Diabetes training and those that have previously received training in Diabetes conducted by the AACE. He indicated that the knowledge and performance skills of the two groups will be evaluated through the usage of unified scientific tools.
He further stated that after the completion of the first phase of the evaluation, a unified scientific training diabetes management curriculum will be established in order to fill in the training needs and gaps identified in the evaluation process. In phase two, doctors will be trained on the new curriculum to improve their knowledge and practical capabilities in treating diabetes.
Dream Samir, MD for Merck Serono Middle East said: “Merck Serono has joined hands with MOH as partners in fighting type 2 Diabetes. We will continue to find and initiate programs to help contain diabetes in the UAE, where the prevalence is the second highest globally.”
WAM