IFM Hosts 2nd Global Family Medicine Scientific Alliance Meeting

Medical Error, the 3rd Leading Cause of Death After Heart Diseases & Cancer

The International Family Medicine Conference and Exhibition continues for the third consecutive day at the Dubai International Convention and Exhibition Centre, highlighting the theme “Building a Culture of Excellence in Family Medicine”. The topics discussed during the conference revolved around the Role of Family Physicians in Detecting, Diagnosis, Early Intervention and Treating Substance Abuse Patients, Accreditation on Primary Health Care, Chronic Illness, Obesity, Mental Health, Cardiovascular Disease, as well as Revision in Communication Skills which are the core of family physician to build up a great rapport with the patient.

On the sidelines of IFM Conference and Exhibition, the Global Family Medicine Scientific Alliance Meeting was held and presided by more than 30 doctors and specialists representing number of healthcare institutions and organizations from the GCC and the world. During the Global Family Medicine Scientific Alliance Meeting health representatives discussed several topics such as quality of family practice, leadership improvement in the general practice, family medicine in community based intervention, ways to put innovative thoughts in general practice, methods to enhance patience safety in general practice and reduce malpractice and medication error.

Dr. Abdul Salam Al Madani, Executive Chairman of IFM and GFMSA said during the meeting; “the Global Family Medicine Scientific Alliance – GFMSA was established to promote the Family Medicine Education through science, dialogue and networking. The GFMSA is dedicated to encourage and guide the family medicine professionals and help them to contribute effectively to the community with their innovative ideas and services.”

Dr. Al Madani continued: “The GFMSA is not only a platform that fosters common objectives and goals covering various aspects of Family Medicine, it is also dedicated to inspire and guide the new generation of family medicine professionals and encourage them to learn, share their knowledge and innovative research while contributing to this industry and the community in general.”

From his side, Dr. Tawfik Khoja Director General of the Executive Board of Health Ministers’ Council for GCC States said: “We, the health care managers and decision makers, appreciate such partnership efforts and initiatives that enrich the knowledge, expertise, and skills of family medicine in the region, and helps to put the family medicine in the right place in the health care sector. With such initiatives, we can have consolidated ideas and movements to improve our efforts to give better and high-quality health care to our patients coming to primary care centers.”

He added: “There are so many objectives for this alliance, such as transferring knowledge and skills between countries, enhancing the process of innovative thoughts and ideas to have high quality family medicine practice in the region, formulating guidelines for common problems in the region, and enhancing and enriching the family medicine practice in the region and globally.”

He continued on saying: “This is the era of partnerships, without which we will be fragmented and we won’t be able to meet the challenges family medicine is facing. This alliance is the excellent platform to address such challenges and threats and turn them into chances to improve.”

On another scope, Prof/Dr. Faisal Abdullatif Alnasir, Honorary Faculty, Imperial College, London and Chairman; Home Health Care Centre has highlighted at IFM the third leading cause of death after heart diseases and cancer that many are unaware of, or they try to hide which is the issue of medical error.

He said: “According to a recent study that is published in the Journal of Patient Safety, it is estimated that between 210,000 and 440,000 patients suffer from medical errors that lead to death. Although the majority of such errors happen in the secondary and tertiary care, the primary care remains not spared. A review of 11 studies conducted in the primary health care settings found that the rates of medical errors ranged between 5 and 80 errors per 100,000 visits and that between 60 and 83% of all identified errors could be considered preventable.”

“Having said that, difficulties in doctor–patient communication was reported in several studies as an important cause of the error that nearly all were preventable, and this is one of the main issues that IFM will be addressing this year to prevent what can be preventable.” He concluded

On the other hand, the exhibition hosts 90 participating companies from 62 countries showcasing their latest technologies and innovative solutions in the field of family medicine.

The International Family Medicine Conference and Exhibition is held under the patronage of His Highness Sheikh Hamdan bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Deputy Ruler of Dubai, Minister of Finance and President of the Dubai Health Authority, and it is organized yearly by INDEX Conferences and Exhibitions – member of INDEX Holding. The event will continue until the 9th of March 2017, and it is supported by Ministry of Health & Prevention in the UAE, Dubai Health Authority, Global Family Medicine Scientific Alliance, Health Ministers Council for Gulf Cooperation Council States, International Hospital Federation, Anti-Smoking International Alliance, INDEX Healthcare Management, and Dubai Sports Council.