5,000 bariatric surgeries conducted annually in Kuwait

KUWAIT: Health Ministry Assistant Undersecretary for Allied Medical Services Affairs Dr Fawaz Al-Rifae said the long-term plan the health ministry started a long time ago to qualify Kuwaitis of both genders resulted in qualifying a large number of doctors, whether from Kuwait University's medical college or from abroad.

Rifae, who spoke to journalists on the sidelines of the opening ceremony of the surgery week in Kuwait, which included four conferences, said the conferences were highly professional with the participation of an elite group of specialists both from Kuwait and abroad. He said it is very important to concentrate on female doctors, because they now represent a large group of graduates in the country, adding they greatly contribute to enhancing health services in the country. Rifae said the health ministry does not spare any effort in introducing the most modern medical equipment and anything that is beneficial for the health of citizens and expats.

Meanwhile, Head of Kuwait Association of Surgeons Dr Salman Al-Sabah said 3,000 bariatric surgeries in government hospitals and 2,000 in the private sector are conducted annually, adding that the health ministry has completed a national register of obesity surgeries. "We are looking forward to a national register for accidents due to the high rate of deaths of those under 40 due to accidents," he added. He said the registers are used to compile statistics and compare results with those around the world, and hoped the national register includes the private sector soon.

Salman said the conferences focused on the future of surgery and a large number of experts contributed to them, with a concentration on female surgeons. He added reality shows that a large number of Kuwait University College of Medicine graduates are female, adding that the role of the association is to attract them to practice as surgeons.

By Abdellatif Sharaa