A new medical center exclusively for the treatment of diabetes patients will be established in south Jeddah, Dr. Sami Badawood, Director of Health Affairs Management, announced here Wednesday. The announcement came during the inauguration of a campaign under the theme “Yes for Health and Life, No for Diabetes” at the Red Sea Mall here. A large number of officials and doctors were present at the launch of the campaign. Dr. Abdul Aziz Al-Tuwaim, head of the Organizing Committee, and Dr. Iman Abdulrahman, a noted diabetes specialist, said lectures on the disease and its symptoms and treatment will be delivered during the campaign. Badawood said eight medical centers under the supervision of the Ministry of Health are in the pipeline. Several campaigns, he said, have been planned in schools to define diabetes and make sure that students understand the causes and symptoms of the disease. Al-Tuwaim attributed the increase in diabetes cases in the Kingdom to several reasons: Unhealthy lifestyle, psychological pressure because of life's difficulties and junk food. The new communication facilities, he said, have also reduced the mobility of people making them more susceptible to diabetes. The number of people affected by diabetes has increased alarmingly in the Kingdom and other Gulf states in the recent past. “Statistics show that the number of cases registered in the world has reached 140 million, including 3.5 million Saudis, which means 24 percent of the Kingdom's population, mostly over the age of thirty, is affected by the disease” added Al-Tuwaim. Also obesity has become a global problem affecting more than 300 million people. Recent figures showed that more than 80 percent of diabetic patients are obese, and 50 percent of these patients risk kidney failure. Abdulrahman advised patients with diabetes to take precautionary measures to cope with the disease and prevent complications since blood vessels can be damaged due to increased sugar concentrations in the blood for long periods.
