DOHA: Around 700 Qatar Petroleum (QP) employees have been tested for diabetes as part of a major workplace screening campaign run by Action on Diabetes.
Qatar’s new diabetes screening bus was positioned at QP’s Ras Abu Abboud Compound and Al Handasa Building in Doha, allowing medical experts from Action on Diabetes to test for and provide advice about diabetes.
The proportion of people living with diabetes in Qatar is among the highest in the world, with 16.7 percent of Qataris having the condition according to a recent Qatar STEPwise report.
The screening at QP showed that most employees had normal results in terms of blood glucose, blood pressure and lipid profile.
However, there was in some cases a moderate risk of developing diabetes, the risk factors identified being a lack of physical activity, overweight, obese and having unhealthy eating habits.
Ahmed Ali Al Mawlawi, Director Administration, QP said: ‘Having Action on Diabetes screening bus at two of our sites was a new approach for us and made it easier to raise awareness of diabetes and encouraged our employees to get tested. Insights and analyses from the six days of screening will help our employees improve their health and help us better understand where we should be focusing our workplace health schemes.
Preventive measures and health promotion activities are supported and encouraged by the Minister of Energy and Industry and Managing Director, H E Dr Mohamed bin Saleh Al Sada, which provide an opportunity to improve the health and well-being of the QP community. The next visits will be outside Doha. QP looks forward to working together with Action on Diabetes again at its offices.
The custom-made screening bus is fitted with seven testing stations and is large enough to accommodate six nurses and two educators.
A full range of testing equipment is installed to allow analysis of random blood glucose, HbA1c, cholesterol, body mass index and blood pressure.
Those tested receive personalised analyses of their results, complete with colour-coded graphs showing their risk levels, and recommendations to improve their score over time.
A diabetes health audit is provided to employers with a final report which aggregates screening results with follow-up recommendations.
The visit to QP was part of the Workplace Screening Campaign to raise awareness of diabetes and boost the number of people getting tested for the disease. Prior to the visit, the bus funded by Maersk Oil Qatar under its sponsorship of Action on Diabetes partnership, visited Supreme Council of Health, Al Rayyan TV headquarters and Barwa Towers where around 800 people were tested over the past six month. The bus is scheduled to visit many workplaces in the coming weeks.
The Peninsula
