Two specialized divisions launched to consult patients and offer customized diabetes treatments
To honor World Diabetes Day this year, which is celebrated annually on November 14, Al Rahba Hospital has announced the inauguration of its new Diabetes Clinic to offer consultation and treatment to patients throughout the United Arab Emirates.
The state-of-the-art facility is designed to improve the quality of life of controlled and uncontrolled diabetic patients through self-education and proactive screening and monitoring.
Al Rahba Hospital is managed by Johns Hopkins Medicine International and owned and operated by Abu Dhabi Health Services Company PJSC (SEHA). The Diabetes Care Team at Al Rahba Hospital is headed by Dr. Nellie Boma, M.D., M.P.H, and Chief Medical Officer of Al Rahba Hospital, who will be coordinating knowledge transfer initiatives with Johns Hopkins as a renowned name in the field of diabetes research.
“Al Rahba’s new Diabetes Clinic services are based on an interdisciplinary approach suited to meet the needs of a growing patient population and are aligned with the highest international guidelines and requirements set forth by SEHA in the Emirate of Abu Dhabi,” says Dr. Boma.
“Diabetes care is constantly changing in order to meet the dynamic needs of patients as their lifestyles and diets transform during their lifetime. There is no single, uniform treatment or solution to this complex disease, and we are proud to be able to serve patients on all levels of the spectrum. The new Diabetes Clinic is a huge step forward in consolidating regional and national initiatives to reduce the disease’s social and economic burden.”
To mark the launch of the Diabetes Clinic, Al Rahba physicians, diabetes educators, pharmacists and dietitians hosted visitors and patients at twelve different locations at the hospital, offering free diabetes education kits and distributing information about the new services.
The new Diabetes Clinic is a project of Al Rahba Hospital’s Diabetes Care Team, which has been providing care to patients since 2003. The management of the new facility includes a dedicated diabetes physician, Diabetes educator and dietitian, and a team of specially-trained nurses. Additional specialists, including cardiologists to nephrologists will join the clinic as needed. This individualized approach offers a unique set of treatments that are tailored to the needs and potential complications of a specific patient.
The diabetes control division—one of two departments within the new clinic—aims at saving patients from developing diabetic complications in the first place and is geared to patients with uncontrolled blood sugar levels with glycosylated hemoglobin of below 9%. If one’s blood sugar is very high for prolonged periods of time, it tends to bind with the tissues and change its characteristics—a process known as glycosylation—which plays a major role in inducing long-term complications and raising blood sugar levels to above 9%. Such symptoms are termed as “grossly uncontrolled” or high-risk diabetes.
“In a survey we conducted last year, the number of patients with diabetes at Al Rahba Hospital alone included between 30percent - 60percent of our entire medical outpatient visits when followed up monthly for over a year,” explains Dr. Boma. “Early detection and therapy has to be a mainstay for helping these people to not develop serious complications in the future. In cooperation with the SEHA HealthSystem, building new diabetes initiatives and clinics will bring lasting value to these populations and the Emirate of Abu Dhabi as a whole.”
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