The International Conference on Oncology opened Tuesday at the Meridian Hotel in Al-Khobar with specialists from the Kingdom and abroad addressing topics concerning cancer and its treatment. Organized by the Saudi Oncology Society and King Faisal Specialist Hospital, the event laid particular emphasis on the forms of compassionate treatment – “amiable care” – of sufferers, described by Amiable Treatment consultant Dr. Arij Mattar as covering “sedative and psychological treatment and sometimes alternative medicine and social treatment”. “All these types of treatment are meant to give psychological support to patients to enable them lead normal lives,” she said. Dr. Hafiz Ghanim, an Amiable Care Consultant at King Fahd Specialist Hospital in Dammam, spoke of the need for comprehensive care allied with basic treatment. “Amiable treatment helps patients suffering from cancer bear the complications and pains of the disease,” Ghanim said. He said that amiable treatment medical teams were composed of an “amiable treatment doctor, nurse, social worker, psychiatrist and religious guide”. Dr. Rawabi Sheikh, a consultant of Amiable Treatment and Internal Medicine, said the role of amiable treatment doctors began at the phase of radiotherapy or chemotherapy treatment.
