KUWAIT: The Kuwait Cancer Control Center in cooperation with the Ministry of Health is holding the 3rd International Head and Neck Cancer Conference at the Sheikha Salwa Al Sabah Hall, in the Marina Crescent. Dr Mahmoud Abdulhadi, Assisting Undersecretary for Legal Affairs represented Minister of Health Dr Ali Al-Obaidi at the conference. "This conference includes the latest medical developments, modern medicine practices and recommendations in this field," he noted during the two-day event's opening ceremony yesterday.

Clear strategy

"Cancers are chronic diseases that received high attention from the World Health Organization. All countries are committed by the international sustainable development plan from 2015 - 2030 to set a clear vision strategy with specific goals in order to prevent and eliminate chronic non-infectious diseases, and to work on its early detection and on providing the detection, diagnosis, and care for the patients suffering from it," Abdulhadi further said.

Dr Khaled Al-Saleh, President of the conference said that head and neck cancer is curable, as it stays in place for a longer period compared to other types of cancer, so surgeries and radiation therapies play a key role in the curing process. "The head and neck cancer disables some main functions of the human body such as swallowing, talking, smelling, hearing, or sighting," he said. "For this reason, it is not enough to cure this cancer, but it is also necessary to provide quality life for the patient. It is difficult for the patient to get well and then leave him suffering of not being able to talk for losing voice."

Training program

Different public institutions including the Ministry of Health, First Care Department, Dental Medicine, and 'CAN' cancer awareness campaign cooperated to organize a program to train first care doctors and dentists to early detect the head and neck cancer. "Until today, more than 800 first care doctors and 400 dentists were trained. The Health Ministry has adopted the recommendations of the World Health Organization to establish cooperation between the doctors of the first care and the specialized cancer hospital for a bigger chance of early detection to achieve higher curing percentage and better life quality," added Saleh.

"Experts in the field from different countries including Kuwait, Italy, Germany, Belgium, Holland, Canada, United States, United Kingdom, Saudi Arabia and other are participating in this conference. The conference includes lectures, workshops, discussion sessions, and parallel sessions for nurses, physicians, technicians, and palliative care staff, in addition to other specialists including oncology doctors and nurses and alternative medicine doctors. Furthermore a cooperation agreement with visiting doctors on collaboration in scientific researches will be signed during the conference," he concluded.

By Nawara Fattahova, Staff Writer