MSD launched on Sunday the international pharmaceutical firm's three-day diabetes lecture tour to support physicians across Saudi Arabia in providing patients with the best diabetes healthcare management possible. The three day lecture tour will see Dr. Bernd Ludvick, an Associate Professor of Medicine at the University of Vienna in Austria, visit a number of different areas of the Kingdom, including Riyadh, Dammam and Jeddah. Starting at Prince Salman Hospital in Riyadh Sunday, Dr. Ludvick shared his insights and expertise on how to address the large population of diabetics in Saudi Arabia. The lectures will be attended by a number of healthcare professionals from the GCC and international diabetes opinion leaders. Dr. Ludvick focuses on the effective handling of high risk Type 2 diabetics, exploring the effectiveness of new diabetes treatments. Highlighting the importance of the lecture tour for physicians, Dr. Wail Sami A-Qasim, Managing Director, Saudi Arabia, MSD, said "over 19 percent of Saudi Arabia's adult population has diabetes placing it in 7th in the world. Of these, at least 50 percent have uncontrolled sugar levels which in many cases can lead to serious diabetes related complications that cause disability, or even death. Addressing the needs of these patients and supporting physicians in managing their diabetes is crucial if we are to reduce the high burden of disease in Saudi Arabia. Reasons for uncontrolled diabetes varies from lack of compliance to medication to inadequate treatment, this is why medicines like Janumet, are so important." Dr. Saud Al Sifri, Consultant Endocrinologist, Supervisor of the Diabetes and Endocrine Specialist Center & Chairman of the Endocrinology Departments at Al Hada & Taif Armed Forces Hospitals, said "uncontrolled diabetes is the number one causes of diabetes complications. When patients are required to take several different medications in conjunction with each other the likelihood of them adhering to the correct medical regiment is significantly decreased. By educating physicians in the use of multi-function medications, we ensure that Saudi physicians have access to the support they need to address the unmanaged diabetic population. Additionally, addressing this percentage of diabetics will also help in reducing the substantial financial burden that families with diabetic members and in fact the Saudi community at large, face as a result of having to treat diabetes related complications."
