Thursday, March 28, 2024 | Ramadan 17, 1445 H
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EDITOR IN CHIEF- ABDULLAH BIN SALIM AL SHUEILI

Shouldn’t we be responsible for our own personal health?

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An insightful discussion on opportunities and challenges in Oman’s healthcare sector hosted by Ithraa as part of its ‘Inside Stories’ series last week, had the panelists — leading figures on the frontlines of public and private healthcare in the Sultanate — vigorously holding forth on, among other key themes, our generally lackadaisical approach to our own personal health and well-being.


The panel featured: Dr Abdullah al Harthy, trauma surgeon at Sultan Qaboos University Hospital; Dr Asif Gani, Regional Director, Oman Burjeel Hospital & Medical Centres; Raif al Harthy, CEO, Wareed and Dr Mazen al Khabouri, Director-General; Private Health Establishments, Ministry of Health. The event will be moderated by Ithraa’s Nisreen Ahmed Jafar.


Broaching the subject, Dr Al Khabouri stated: “My message to people is that you should be taking care of your own health. Health starts with you! We will repair you, much like a mechanic, if you fall sick. For example, if you look after your car well, it will run for a long time — of course, it may need servicing occasionally, but there will be no major breakdowns.”


The veteran ENT Consultant cited the example of a young friend who had all sorts of ailments — heartburn, sleep apnea, obesity and so on —associated with his overweightness. “I encouraged him to a diet that was popular at the time, and along with visits to the gym, he halved his weight and all his problems disappeared. Unfortunately, five years later, he reverted back to the unhealthy eating habits, and eventually died of heart disease despite all sorts of interventions. He was in his 30s!”


“People think that the Ministry of Health and other healthcare providers are there to repair you when you are sick. They are not! We are there to help you repair yourself, but first of all, you should look after yourself. Your body is a gift from God, and it’s haram to waste it on frivolities,” he stressed.


Dr Mazin recalled a programme run by the Ministry of Health that encouraged family members accompanying patients to get themselves tested for potential non-communicable ailments. Targeted at 40-plus year-olds, the campaign yielded extraordinary insights, he said.


“We were amazed to find that a huge number of the people, who were otherwise in good physical health, were either pre-diabetic, pre-hypertensive or with early symptoms of kidney disease, among other problems. Clearly, there is a huge under-current of healthcare problems, and I don’t think there is enough money in the whole world to take care of all these issues, regardless of what you do!”


Dr Abdullah al Harthy of SQU Hospital singled out preventive health as fundamental to the goal of delivery healthcare services to the community. “The role of the Ministry of Health goes way beyond repairing people,” he said. “We don’t want people to get sick in the first place. Prevention gives you better results than treatment. We spend a lot of money, for example, in intensive care, oncology, high-end angioplasty, cardiac bypass and so on, but how much money have we invested in preventing people from arriving at this point, to start with?,” he asked.


But he acknowledged the challenges of getting people to live well by ditching their unhealthy food habits and lifestyles. “It’s all well and good to tell people to exercise and eat less. But there is a reason why people choose to eat high fat, high sugar, or high salt food — and that’s because it tastes good. We would be living in a fantasy world thinking that just by telling people what to do, this will actually change their behaviour,” he said, while stressing the role of the Ministry of Health and the healthcare sector in general in promoting healthy eating and lifestyle behaviours.


Dr Gani lamented the somewhat laid-back manner of some people towards their personal health, and leave it to healthcare providers to shoulder the burden when they fall ill. “Caring for one’s health is often seen as the responsibility of the healthcare provider.”


Given the proclivity of such people to indulge in unhealthy eating and lifestyle behaviours, routine health check-ups become are highly recommendable for everyone crossing the age of 40, he said. “Preventive health checks should be the norm for anyone above 40 years. Any lurking health dangers, particularly non-communicable diseases, can be tackled before they present a serious problem,” he said.


Raif al Harthy, an entrepreneur, stressed that preventive health should not be the prerogative of the healthcare sector alone. “Preventive healthcare should encompass other sectors and activities as well, and it requires the collaboration of the entire community to create an environment where healthcare is conducive to one’s lifestyle. After all, it is not easy to change behaviour; People need support,” he added.


CONRAD PRABHU


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