Mobile clinic helps UAE diabetics living in remote areas

Hundreds of people in remote areas have received treatment for diabetes thanks to a clinic on wheels.

The Win Over Diabetes clinic treated 546 people last year - 11 of whom were unaware they were diabetic.

Almost 10 per cent were found to have uncontrolled diabetes and a further 112 were required to undergo further examination.

The clinic will more than double the number of rural areas it visits this year, from five in the whole of last year to nine in the first half of this year alone.

After last year's campaign, the project was expanded, said Dr Abdul Razzaq Al Madani, head of the Emirates Diabetes Society.

"We have had an incredibly positive response, which has led us to initiate the service over 2013, in Abu Dhabi, in collaboration with the Ambulatory Healthcare Service, for the first half of the year," he said.

Endocrinologists will visit AHS clinics in the Eastern region of Abu Dhabi to provide screenings and consultations.

The mobile clinic will visit the following areas: from February 23 - Al Hayer; March 9 - Al Faqa and Showaib; March 30 - Sweihan; April 13 - Al Yahar; April 27 - Khatim; May 11 - Khazna and Remah; May 25 - Hilli.

zalhassani@thenational.ae