Sheikh Hamdan Bin Rashid Al Maktoum Award for Medical Sciences supports the training course organized by the British Pediatric Neurology Association and hosted by the Emirates Society for Epilepsy, emanating from the Emirates Neurology Society, on the epilepsy management in children. The 3-days training course is held at Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum Academic Medical Center from 5 to 7 February, with the participation of 36 healthcare professionals from the UAE.

 

Mr. Abdullah Bin Souqat, the Executive Director of Hamdan Medical Award, said that supporting such a training course held for the first time in the UAE is very important and comes within the framework of the award’s efforts in supporting the continuing medical education in order to meet the future challenges and develop the local healthcare sector.

 

“The Award is keen on studying the situation of the health sector and works on supporting the most important training programs for healthcare professionals in order to develop their performance and improve the provided healthcare services in line with the latest global standards”, Bin Souqat said.

 

On the other side, Professor Helen Cross, a representative of the British Pediatric Neurology Association, spoke about the importance of such a training course by saying: “The association holds this course in many countries around the world especially that this field of medicine has witnessed many developments in its diagnosis and treatment methods during the last ten years”.

 

“The course includes two levels; the 1st level was held yesterday and included 11 lectures and 4 workshops discussed the basic information about epilepsy such as the diagnosis and the diagnosis tools, with the participation of a group of neurologists, nurses, technicians and healthcare workers within the UAE”, she said.

 

“As for the second level of the training course, which is held today and tomorrow, it is more in-depth and basically targets the neurologists. This level includes 9 lectures and 5 workshops discussing epilepsy in children, till age of 9 years old, in terms of diagnosis and treatment”, Prof. Cross added.

 

“The main objective of this course is to reduce the misdiagnosis of epilepsy whose symptoms are like those of many other diseases and behavioral disorders in children. Also, the diagnosis and treatment of epilepsy are associated with the child age”, she said.

 

Prof. Cross noted the seriousness of misdiagnosis which increases the families suffering. Not to mention their concern in case of realizing that their child is with epilepsy, especially in the Arab countries whose misconceptions about epilepsy may delay the diagnosis and treatment and so the case may be getting worse.

 

She said: There isn’t a certain medical test telling us if the child suffers from epilepsy or no. The diagnosis of the disease depends on the experience of the neurologist as well as the information gathered from the patients’ families.

 

“I am so pleased that the course is hosted by the Emirates Society for Epilepsy and supported by Hamdan Medical Award. Holding such a course helps us to reach many specialists within the UAE to give them an idea about the latest findings in this field of medicine”, she added.

 

It is worth mentioning that this training course is held on the sidelines of the 3rd Emirates International Pediatric Neurology Conference 2014, organized by Tawam Hospital and Al Mafraq Hospital. The conference will be opened tomorrow, Friday, and will last for 2 days at Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum Academic Medical Center, Dubai.