Hamad Medical Corporation officials during the opening of the annual health gazebo.
DOHA: Hamad Medical Corporation (HMC) hosted hundreds of patients and visitors during a three-day exhibition at its annual health gazebo, to coincide with the World Diabetes Day.
Located at the Outpatient Entrance of Hamad General Hospital, patients and visitors received counselling from physicians, dieticians, educators, podiatrists and pharmacists about diabetes, early detection and prevention.
“The gazebo offered medical consultations by educators, dieticians, podiatrists and clinical pharmacists to all patients and visitors. Blood sugar checks were also available,” said Manal Al Musallam, Senior Diabetes Educator at HMC and Coordinator of the Corporation’s World Diabetes Day events. “The diabetes screening tests that were available in the gazebo this year included the glycosylated haemoglobin level test, which is a test that shows the average level of blood sugar (glucose) over the previous three months.”
Al Musallam added that the exhibition included various events, such as the distribution of gifts to visitors and the circulation of new booklets that explain how to prepare a healthier, and diabetic friendly, versions of many popular Arabic dishes.
“In addition to the distribution of educational flyers, a special diabetes calendar with 12 objectives for the 2014 calendar year was also given to patients and visitors in order to raise awareness about diabetes prevention and management. The calendar is designed to motivate patients to achieve one objective every month, and to help them prevent the potential risks and complications of diabetes,” said Al Musallam.
“One of the objectives presented in the calendar is encouraging patients to maintain their blood glucose levels between 80 to 120mg/dl before meals and 80 to 180mg/dl two hours after eating. Furthermore, the calendar highlights the importance of living a healthy, balanced lifestyle by maintaining regular exercise and a healthy balanced diet and not smoking. The calendar also provides individuals living with diabetics with general guidelines on how to fast and travel while maintaining normal blood sugar levels. The calendar also reveals some common misconceptions about diabetes treatments that can adversely affect the health of diabetics.”
The Peninsula
