DOHA: At least seven Primary Health Centers (PHC) in the country will have all services to combat chronic diseases, by the end of the year. The services will include those for early detection, intervention and treatment apart from awareness programmes for various chronic diseases, according to sources. The services will be extended to all the health centres across the country in three years. Qatar’s healthcare system needs to address chronic diseases and their underlying risk factors as these diseases account for about half of the deaths here. Chronic diseases accounted for 49 percent of classified deaths in 2008 here. Studies have found high prevalence rates for diabetes, asthma and cardiovascular disease here. Of particular concern is the fact that 16.4 percent of Qataris suffer from diabetes, which is well above the global average of 6.4 percent. From next week, some of the PHC staff will be trained in protocols and treatment basics of the programme. This is to guarantee implementation of full-scale projects for ailments such as diabetes, hypertension, asthma and other chronic diseases, a local daily reported. The new system will also introduce internal transfer between specialisations such as dentistry and ophthalmology to ensure these patients receive full healthcare. Patients will be closely followed so as to prevent complications, and health awareness services will be offered to patients and their relatives. “We will establish new health centres and develop the existing 22 PHCs to have a total of 52 health centres. New services and changes in PHCs are aimed to enhance the quality of these centres and improve healthcare performance. All these are part of a greater plan to get international accreditation in three years,” said Dr Mariam Ali Abdul Malik, executive director, Primary Healthcare. THE PENINSULA

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