The MOH Undersecretary for Executive Affairs Dr. Mansour Al-Hawasi opened on Wednesday May 30, 2007, at the Grand Celebrations Hall, King Fahad Medical City (KFMC), the conference of "Lights on the Most Important Health Problems in our Schools", which was attended by 400 scholars who are concerned with childhood health. In his address in front of the conference, the KFMC Executive Manager Dr. Abdullah Al-Amro, said KFMC has extended its goals to integrate with the Ministry of Education and other hospitals, thus taking a leading position in providing both medical and social services. He said KFMC Pediatric Hospital has transformed dreams into reality by introducing the Electronic Prescription Service for the first time in the Kingdom.
The KFMC Pediatric Hospital Manager Dr. Saleh Al-Salehi said the conference is concerned specially with chronic diseases affecting children at schools. He said the conference involves workshops organized by specialists for school health doctors, doctors at primary health care centers, and teachers as a whole.
He said the conference is the first of its type due to the special health services it provides and the large number of specialists in chronic diseases affecting children, especially diabetes.
He hoped the conferees shall all benefit from the scholars who are closely related to childhood health, denoting that KFMC doctors shall visit nearby schools and health centers for conducting joint medical and educational research.
"The conference will review a program titled (The Neighborhood Right)", he said. "This program which is adopted by the KFMC Pediatric Hospital exemplifies the role of health organization in offering services to the community, represented here by two schools adjacent to KFMC"
He said the idea of the program has originated from its great religious connotation. "We are trying by our simple capabilities to derive a global scientific methodology representing the ideal values of our religion and the pioneering role it plays in dealing with all scientific, practical and social aspects of life", he added. "We are also trying to correct the wrong concept of others towards our religion".
Dr. Al-Salihi warned against the high rate of diabetes among children, denoting that one in each four children is either subject to the disease or affected by it. He also directed the attention towards the fact that about 33% of our children are subject to obesity, which a high percentage compared to other countries.
He called the large governmental and private entities to support the Neighborhood Right program. He moreover invited religious organizations to participate in the program through intensifying the role of the mosque and supporting social programs.
The program coordinator Dr. Hani Al-Khalidi said the conference will commence by the speech of Dr. Saleh Al-Salehi on the Neighborhood Program, which will be followed by the lecture of Dr. Saleh Al-Ansari on the health problems in schools. Dr. Sulaiman Al-Shahri will talk on enhancing the health of adolescents, whereas Dr. Mansour Al-Yousif will conclude the first sitting by his lecture on primary health centers.
He said the above speeches will be followed by the conference sittings and workshops which will deal with a number of issues such as behavior disorders, anxiety, diabetes, asthma, obesity, growth problems, nutrition, osteoporosis, future health risks, hypertension, fats, and diabetic retinopathy.
According to Dr. Al-Khalidi, the program's priorities include high obesity rate, malnutrition among children, enhancing awareness of healthy food among children and teachers, hyperactivity, etc.
As regarding the feasibility of the program, Dr. Al-Khalidi said regular meetings are made between KFMC and workers at health centers once every three months to evaluate the program.