The twists and turns of naming diseases - BBC News

When a new disease is identified in agroup of patients it needs a name so it can be described, researched and treated. But, unlike naming a child, there is no little book of
names for diseases. So how do you choose the right name for a new condition? It isn't easy.

In the 1970s, Dr Graham Hughes, a rheumatologist working at London Bridge Hospital noticed that a group of his patients suffered from "sticky" blood that increased their risk of
dangerous blot clots. His colleagues decided to name the condition after
him, a recognition which is rare these days.

"It was an honour for me," explained Dr Hughes. "Hopefully, when I kick the bucket, I'll be remembered for it."


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The twists and turns of naming diseases - BBC News

Cost of diabetes escalating | Arab News

 JEDDAH: Of youths under the age of 20, 5 to 10 percent suffer from
diabetes, said Vice President of the Saudi Society for Children’s
Medicine and head of the third annual conference for diabetes patients
Abdul Aziz bin Abdullah Al-Toweim.

The two-day conference launched on Wednesday at the InterContinental Hotel in Jeddah, under the auspices of Makkah Gov. Prince Khaled Al-Faisal, with attendance of 40 professors
and lecturers from inside and outside the Kingdom.

According to Al-Toweim, “treatment for type I diabetes patients without any
complications costs the Ministry of Health SR10,000 annually for insulin
needles, while treatment for type 2 diabetes per patient ranges between
SR5,000 and SR8,000 annually.”........

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Cost of diabetes escalating | Arab News

67% of visits to emergency ‘not urgent' | Arab News

 JEDDAH: A whopping 67 percent of people who seek help at the emergency
units of hospitals do not need urgent attention, says a study.
The research, published by a local publication on Friday, found that these
people are only likely to delay others from getting treatment. Only 24
percent required urgent medical intervention.

In addition, over 50 percent thought that the medical staff were unfriendly and tactless.
However, 70 percent expressed satisfaction about waiting areas and
access to parking.

Fares Al-Hamzani, a consultant in health services management, said that researchers interviewed 544 people. The study revealed that only 2.79 percent of people were happy about services at emergency units, which was often the first place of contact for the
public.

Al-Hamzani urged the government to increase the number of primary health centers in some areas. He also said that a board should be set up to monitor the way patients view services, so that it could improve on them.

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67% of visits to emergency ‘not urgent' | Arab News

Program makes women aware of breast cancer risks | Arab News

 RIYADH: More than 200,000 women were tested for breast cancer and only
15 positive cases were detected in the capital during the monthlong
campaign to fight breast cancer which ended here on Tuesday.

Speaking at the closing ceremony of the campaign, Deputy Minister of Health for
Public Health Abdulaziz bin Saeed said it was a successful campaign
where 2,200 women underwent mammograms and the Ministry of Health was
able to reach more than 200,000 women through this campaign.

Thenational campaign was organized by the Ministry of Health under the
auspices of Minister of Health Khalid Al-Falih. Sponsors of the program
were honored with certificates of appreciation for their contributions
toward the success of the project.

Pointing out that breast cancer is the second biggest cause of death among the cancer diseases after lung cancer, Bin Saeed said that around up to 70 percent of cases in the
Kingdom are detected in the late stages . He pointed out that early
detection will have a 97 percent chance for complete recovery.

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Program makes women aware of breast cancer risks | Arab News

Medical app for emergencies soon | Arab News

 RIYADH: Prince Sultan University students will launch an application on
Dec. 9 for emergency medical services, which would link patients with
ambulances.
The app would allow people to share their locations,
determine the time for an ambulance to arrive, and a section to rate the
service for efficiency, according to a statement issued by the
university.
 The launch will take place on the university women’s campus. Hundreds of
students from Princess Nora, Prince Sultan, King Faisal, King Saud and
other local universities are expected to attend.


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Medical app for emergencies soon | Arab News

Patient-Generated Data: How's a Doctor to Interpret It All? medscape.com

Was the EMR Price Tag Worth It?

Eric J. Topol, MD: We have a problem that with the Affordable Care Act, about $40 billion were used to encourage doctors and hospitals to use electronic medical records (EMRs). Was this a good decision, Greg? Where do we stand with the liberation of the data to people?

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When Your Doctor Is on a 30-Hour Shift - The Daily Beast

Source: the Daily Beast

A new program has medical residents working for up to 30 hours without sleep in ICUs—putting patients in danger of hospital errors.

I cannot even count the number of times that I have been told by medical faculty members that nowadays “residents have it SO easy.”

Their tone indicates that they have clearly suffered more terrible work hours and conditions than any resident today, so complaints from our end should be stifled entirely. And accordingly so, I very seldom complain about the number of hours I find myself at work. Sure, it is rather unfortunate that most months I only get one day off a week and weekends are luxuries, but hey, I make the most of it.

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Your Doctor Does Not Give a Crap About Your Fitness Tracker Data - Gizmodo.com

Patients are increasingly bringing their fitness-tracker data to their checkups. Not only are doctors ill-equipped to deal with this information—they’re skeptical that it’s even useful.

As Andrew Rosenblum points out in his latest MIT Technology Review article, doctors are profoundly unimpressed with wearables manufactured by the likes of Fitbit, Apple, and Pebble. As patients disclose the troves of information collected by these fitness-trackers, physicians are at a loss to understand the significance of the data, while also questioning the accuracy of such devices.

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Closer health cooperation ‘vital’ for Muslim countries | Arab News

 JEDDAH: Muslim countries should forge closer health ties to attract
scientists, reduce costs of purchasing medicines and tackle the growing
threat of infectious diseases, said Health Minister Khalid A. Al-Falih
on Thursday.

 Al-Falih was speaking at the two-day Organization of Islamic
Cooperation’s (OIC) 5th Islamic Conference of Health Ministers, which
ended in Istanbul on Thursday. The conference, which is held every two
years, reviewed the status of the OIC Strategic Health Program of Action
2014 to 2023.

Al-Falih said that if Muslim countries focus on
setting up the right research bodies, they can attract talented and
seasoned scientists to help address their health challenges, according
to reports.

He said that the huge health care needs of Muslim
countries makes it possible to develop a joint purchasing strategy that
would counter the monopoly held by some firms in the pharmaceutical
industry, protect their citizens from price increases and achieve major
savings by buying items at fair prices.

 He also called for further coordination to fight infectious diseases. Saudi Arabia and Indonesia have joined the Global Health Security Agenda, which focuses on prevention, early detection and rapid response. Muslim countries should join this initiative, he said.
Al-Falih highlighted Saudi Arabia’s role in providing pilgrims with quality health care, including prevention, ambulatory and primary care services, in addition to advanced tertiary care at the holy sites.

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Closer health cooperation ‘vital’ for Muslim countries | Arab News

Diseases on the rise: What to watch out for - source the news star

Flu isn’t the only illness you’ll want to have on your radar this year.
A new report from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
summarizes data on all infectious and non-infectious diseases reported
to health departments across the country, allowing for a “side by side
comparison,” said Dr. Robert Amler,
dean of the School of Health Sciences and Practice at New York Medical
College. Data in the summary is from 2013, the most recent year
available.
“For the first time we’re going to see, in the same
document, what’s happening with measles and what’s also happening with
blood lead levels in adults,” said Amler, whose career includes a nearly
25-year stint with the CDC. “And we’re going to see what’s happening
with Lyme disease at the same time as we’re counting outbreaks of
food-borne illness, which can be just as problematic.”

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link:

Diseases on the rise: What to watch out for

Saudi joins world’s top medicos in book writing - Arab News

Source Arab News:

JUBAIL: Medical Affairs Director at the Health Services Program of the Royal Commission for Jubail (RCJ) Muhammad bin Hamad Al-Muqbil has participated in a global book about emergency medicine.
Al-Muqbil, who is a pediatrics consultant, has written a chapter in the eighth version of the book, in which he has discussed about metabolic diseases and diabetes among children.

Co-authored by a group of experts working in world’s largest hospitals and universities, the book is one of the most popular and widespread books in the field of emergency medicine and a basic reference for emergency training in all training programs in the world. There are eight versions of the book, which has been documented in the American College Library of Emergency Medicine and was distributed among most of the medical libraries on global level.

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New technology beating IVF failure struggles An incipient hope for those who dream to have children- Arab News paper

Source Arab News:

Despite numerous developments in IVF, the implantation rate of the replaced embryos remains low, some infertile patients undergo many IVF cycles and produce embryos, but the embryos consistently fail to implant for unexplained reasons. This is called IVF failure. It is a very frustrating problem for married couples who can’t have children. The chances of successfully conceiving through IVF decline with age, but it remained more successful than natural reproduction that achieved no pregnancy.

If there is an embryo transfer done, the reason that IVF fails is because of HYPERLINK "http://www.advancedfertility.com/implantation.htm"embryo implantation failure. However, we do not know whether the failure to implant was due to a problem with the embryos or a HYPERLINK 

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This California Hospital is a Model for Price Transparency - Fortune

Everyone is calling for
transparency in prices for health care services. If you could shop for
health care services it is likely competition would improve quality and
lower costs. But, as we all know too well, health care is not like
shopping for computers, cars, or even electricians and contractors.
There are almost no price information and limited quality data.

One health care provider is not waiting
for companies like Castlight to solve the transparency problem, but has
taken the initiative on its own. Since 2012, it has posted its quality
data on its web site for all the public to see and has the comprehensive
prices for all its surgical procedures on a web site.

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This California Hospital is a Model for Price Transparency - Fortune

Research on MERS launched | Arab News

 RIYADH: The King Abdul Aziz City for Science and Technology (KACST) in
cooperation with the ministries of health and agriculture has launched a
joint program for comprehensive research on the Middle East Respiratory
Syndrome coronavirus (MERS-CoV), which has infected 1,276 people in the
Kingdom since June 2012.
Of the total number of MERS victims, 546 have died, according to the Ministry of Health's latest count.
The
agreement was signed by President of the King Abdul Aziz City for
Science and Technology (KACST) Prince Turki bin Saud bin Mohammed Al
Saud, Health Minister Khalid Al-Falih and Minister of Agriculture
Abdulrahman bin Abdulmohsen Al-Fadhli at KACST headquarters on Sunday.



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Research on MERS launched | Arab News

Saudi hospitals first to implant world’s smallest pacemaker | Arab News

 RIYADH: Two Saudi hospitals — King Fahd Armed Forces Hospital (KFAFH)
and Prince Sultan Cardiac Center (PSCC) — have become the first medical
facilities in the world to use the smallest pacemaker.

Dr. Raed Sweidan and Dr. Fayez Boukhari, KFAFH consultant electrophysiologists,
and Dr. Ahmad Al-Fagih and Dr. Khaled Dagriri, PSCC consultant
electrophysiologists, successfully implanted the devices in five
patients. “This new advanced miniaturized technology is highly
favored by patients because of its small size and unique design,”
Al-Fagih told Arab News on Monday.


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Saudi hospitals first to implant world’s smallest pacemaker | Arab News

Fight diseases with regular exercise: Al-Falih | Arab News

 RIYADH: Health Minister Khalid Al-Falih said regular physical exercises
will help build a healthy generation and reduce the incidence of
diseases in the Kingdom.
He was speaking at a charity race, which was
held under the patronage of Eastern Province Gov. Prince Saud bin Naif,
at the Alkhobar Corniche during the weekend.
The event was
sponsored by the Ministry of Health (MoH) to highlight the importance of
physical activities to promote healthy patterns and measures for
disease prevention. The theme of the event was: “Citizens’ Health is
First”.
The minister urged all residents and citizens to do exercise
regularly, at least walking, to fortify themselves against ailments
such as diabetes, obesity and heart problems. He pointed out that that
it is an expensive program to treat such patients.

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Fight diseases with regular exercise: Al-Falih | Arab News

Saudi doctor performs complex heart surgery live on air in Dubai | Arab News

 Source Arab News:

 RIYADH: A Saudi doctor has successfully performed a complex open-heart
surgery live on air, while it was being broadcast live from the Al
Qassimi Hospital in Sharjah in the United Arab Emirates.
The surgery
was performed on a 60-year-old patient whose case was brought to the
attention of medical experts attending a medical conference in Dubai.
Dr.
Mohammed Bulgat Albarqa, a cardiologist and cardiac catheterization
consultant at the King Abdulaziz Medical City at the Ministry of
National Guard in the Saudi capital, was among those attending the
conference.

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Saudi doctor performs complex heart surgery live on air in Dubai | Arab News

Saudi doctor performs complex heart surgery live on air in Dubai | Arab News

 Source Arab News:

 RIYADH: A Saudi doctor has successfully performed a complex open-heart
surgery live on air, while it was being broadcast live from the Al
Qassimi Hospital in Sharjah in the United Arab Emirates.
The surgery was performed on a 60-year-old patient whose case was brought to the
attention of medical experts attending a medical conference in Dubai.
Dr. Mohammed Bulgat Albarqa, a cardiologist and cardiac catheterization
consultant at the King Abdulaziz Medical City at the Ministry of
National Guard in the Saudi capital, was among those attending the
conference.

read more....

Saudi doctor performs complex heart surgery live on air in Dubai | Arab News