By Abdellatif Sharaa

KUWAIT: The Secretariat General of Gulf Federation for Cancer Control organized a workshop on "reflections of health development on the cancer patient" in cooperation with the National Campaign for Cancer Awareness (CAN) and support from Kuwait Foundation for the Advancement of Sciences (KFAS). The workshop was held at CAN's training center and moderated by nuclear medicine consultant and CAN executive committee member Dr Iman Al-Shimmari.

GFFCC Secretary General Dr Khalid Al-Saleh said the goal of the workshop is to shed light on the importance of presenting high quality health services to achieve comprehensive health coverage, and that caring for the individual is the quality base as recommended by WHO to achieve the goals of sustainable health development.

He said there are many obstacles that face health services and providers, adding that developed countries are still suffering from a nearly 15 percent rise in hospital spending due to the lack of completion of comprehensive healthcare, while in developing countries, the rate exceeds 30 percent.

Dr Saleh said due to a lack of quality services, hospitals in low-income countries suffer from around 10 percent of hospital patients getting infected, while in rich countries the percentage is nearly 7 percent, adding the low quality of health services hinder the improvement of healthcare in countries regardless of their income levels.

Director of Health Promotion Department Dr Abeer Al-Bahouh spoke about the importance of supporting patterns of a healthier lifestyle to prevent diseases, while Dr Sarah Al-Abdelhadi from the central department of primary healthcare spoke about the integral role of primary healthcare in improving health security.