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EDITOR IN CHIEF- ABDULLAH BIN SALIM AL SHUEILI

Conference on ways to treat sickle cell anaemia held in Nizwa

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NIZWA, Jan 7 - The ‘New in Blood Diseases’ conference was organised by the Internal Medicine Department at Nizwa Hospital at Golden Tulip Hotel in Nizwa. The conference was held in cooperation with Oman Hereditary Blood Disorder Association and Development and Professional Guidance Department under the auspices of Dr Khalifa bin Hamad al Shaqsi, Director of Nizwa Hospital. The conference was attended by speakers from Sultan Qaboos University Hospital, Royal Hospital, Sohar Hospital and Nizwa Hospital. Eight papers were presented on three main themes; sickle cell anaemia, blood cancer and lymph nodes tumours, and ways to treat sickle cell anaemia.


In his welcome speech, Al Shaqsi hoped the conference will come out with recommendations that contribute to reducing the spread of this disease and finding new ways to contribute towards its treatment.


Dr Rifat Abdullah al Sadeq, specialist in internal medicine and the team leader of sickle cell anaemia at Nizwa Hospital, said, “Anaemia is one of the most common genetic diseases in the world that causes severe suffering for the patient and his family.”


“The spread of the disease in the Sultanate is about 0.3 per cent of the total population. The gene causing the disease (gene) is in about 6 per cent of the citizens. Al Dakhiliyah is the most affected governorate in terms of prevalence of this disease,” he added.


In the first session, which addressed the complications of sickle cell anaemia, Dr Mohammed al Hinai, Consultant Paediatric Haematology at the Royal Hospital, presented a comprehensive overview of sickle cell anaemia.

Prof Salam al Kindi, Professor of Haematology at Sultan Qaboos University, reviewed a scientific study on the causes of the death of patients with sickle cell anaemia in Oman and the lessons to improve patient care. Dr Said al Kindi, a blood diseases specialist at Nizwa Hospital, spoke about blood clotting in patients with sickle cell anaemia.


The second session was about the new in diagnosis and treatment of blood cancer and lymph nodes cancer, by Prof Salam al Kindi with the participation of Dr Ali al Madhani, a haematologist at Sohar Hospital.


The last session related to treating sickle cell anaemia which was presented by Dr Refat Abdullah, a specialist in internal medicine and responsible for the sickle cell anaemia team, in which he reviewed a working paper on the experience of Nizwa Hospital in the use of hydroxyurea in the treatment of sickle cell anaemia.


Dr Mohammed al Hinai, a first consultant of the blood diseases at the Sultan Qaboos University Hospital, provided a lecture on cultivation of bone marrow stem cells for patients with sickle cell anaemia.


AMAL AL RIYAMI


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