KUWAIT, Nov 15 (KUNA) -- Kuwaiti Minister of Health Ali Al-Barrak said here Saturday diabetes clinics constitute a key component of all health centers and hospitals in Kuwait.

The minister, in a speech delivered on his behalf by Assistant Undersecretary of the Ministry of Health for Medical Services Yussef al-Nesef on the occasion of a marathon marking the World Diabetes Day, said diabetes could be eradicated through collective and earnest efforts.

The ministryministry has been seeking to eliminate this disease by means of establishing relevant infrastructure facilities as part of the national health system at the preventive, awareness and curative levels, he said.

A relevant national program has been worked out in line with clear-cut visions, specific goals and objective indexes and criteria for continuing following-up and assessment, he added.

The minister cited the Dasman Center for Research and Treatment of Diabetes as an articulate and unequivocal paradigm of the Kuwaiti political leadership's great attention to diabetes control.

The Dasman center was established upon request from His Highness the late Amir Sheikh Jaber Al-Ahmad Al-Sabah, he said.

As many as 3,000 Kuwaiti officials, citizens and residents participated in the marathon.

The World Diabetes Day became the UN day for diabetes upon a UN resolution in December 2006.

Over 246 million people around the world suffer from diabetes; the figure is predicted to exceed 380 million diabetics in the coming 20 years.

The number of diabetics is on the rise in Kuwait; 15 percent among adults and 22 in 100,000 children under 14 suffer from diabetes.

The Kuwait Petroleum Corporation is seeking to control the growing number of diabetic workers in the oil sector in Kuwait, Saad al-Shuwaib, CEO of the corporation, said.

However, more concrete efforts are needed to promote preventive ways and means, he said in a speech delivered on his behalf by Sheikh Talal al-Khalid, managing director of the corporation, during a ceremony marking the World Diabetes Day.

For his part, Sami el-Rashid, chairman and managing director of the Kuwait Oil Company, the organizer of the ceremony, said the company adopted health programs to provide medical care for its diabetic staff.

The company has translated such programs into a tangible reality by fulfilling all relevant requirements and needs, he said in his speech delivered by Al-Ahmadi Hospital Director Emad al-Awadh.

© Copyright Kuwait News Agency 2008.

 

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