Kuwait to host primary health care conf. in Nov.

KUWAIT, Oct 31 (KUNA) -- The Ministry of Health is organizing its third conference on primary health care in November under the banner line "Confronting Non-communicable Diseases at the Stage of Primary Care," a ministry official said on Friday.
Affirming the role primary care assumes in the defense against the onset of chronic non-communicable diseases such as diabetes, hepatitis, heart ailments, and so on, Dr. Rehab Al-Watyan, director of the primary health care department at the Ministry of Health, noted in a press statement today that the upcoming conference's focus on the importance of primary care was in abidance to resolutions adopted by the WHO regarding such care.
The focus was also in abidance to the GCC resolution which came out last January in a meeting of GCC ministers of health hosted by Kuwait, stressing the necessity to implement any health-related resolutions and decisions issued by international organizations such as the WHO.
Primary care involves the widest scope of health care, including all ages of patients, patients of all socioeconomic and geographic origins, patients seeking to maintain optimal health, and patients with all manner of acute and chronic physical, mental and social health issues, including multiple chronic diseases.
Consequently, a primary care practitioner must possess a wide breadth of knowledge in many areas, a point emphasized well by Dr. Al-Watyan who said that primary care could only be successful if the care providers, physicians and nursing staff, were well trained for it.
On the seminal objective of the November conference, she said it was to remain current on the latest medical developments regarding providing primary health care in a competent manner. She added that medical experts and primary health care providers and consultants from numerous organizations such the WHO along with representatives from GCC health ministries will be attending the conference which takes place from Nov.11 thru 13. (end) shh.ajs