QDA visited Oxy Qatar to increase awareness about diabetes

20/03/2014

Qatar Diabetes Association (QDA) has developed a new partnership with Occidental Petroleum of Qatar (Oxy Qatar), making use of its Diabetes Education Mobile Unit to increase awareness about the condition and enhance healthcare.

QDA, a member of Qatar Foundation for Education, Science and Community Development, visited Navigation Plaza in Doha, giving more than 120 employees from Oxy Qatar and Qatar Petroleum (QP) a pep talk about preventing diabetes, living with it and managing it.

The Diabetes Education Mobile Unit is run and supervised by physicians and professional diabetes educators. It has three rooms: an education and blood sugar testing room, an eye examination room with a retinal camera and a foot care room.

Many people with diabetes visited the mobile unit and were offered a number of tests, including a foot check-up and a retinal eye examination. At Oxy Qatar’s office, QDA also provided visitors with blood sugar testing and dietary counselling.

Oxy Qatar has been a long-standing supporter of QDA and helped furnish the mobile unit with its state-of-the-art medical equipment in 2012. With encouragement from the company, more than 120 employees from Oxy Qatar and QP took advantage of QDA’s services.

Dr Abdullah al-Hamaq, QDA executive director, said: “QDA is thrilled to be able to provide our mobile clinic services to Oxy Qatar’s staff members. Many of them had the chance to take the blood sugar test and the eye and feet examinations and discussed the results with our mobile unit medical team to discover new ways of following a healthy lifestyle.”

He added, “We would also like to express our gratitude to Oxy Qatar for its generous contribution to the mobile clinic as this enables us to reach areas outside Doha and provide our services to those who need it most.”

Stephen Kelly, president and general manager of Oxy Qatar, said: “As part of our commitment to promote healthy lifestyles, Oxy Qatar encourages initiatives that help prevent, identify and fight diabetes. We are very proud to partner with Qatar Diabetes Association and support its efforts to address this growing health issue. Enhancing the quality and accessibility of healthcare and education through projects like QDA’s mobile clinic not only contributes to the wellbeing of our workforce, but it also plays a critical role in creating a healthy future for Qatar.”