The 62nd Conference of Health Ministers Council of the Arab Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) recommended last night an integrated operational plan on diabetes as well as holding a workshop in the field of diabetes to discuss the process of designing a unified Gulf study dealing with epidemiology of diseases. This came in the final statement of the Conference which concluded its works yesterday in Kuwait. The final statement included a number of recommendations and decisions that would achieve greater coordination and cooperation among the GCC countries in the field of health. The GCC Health Ministers approved conducting of a Gulf-Global Health Survey; urging the member states to complete the requirements of the World Health Survey; and commencing the field work to conduct the survey using the methodologies recommended by the World Health Organization. Also, the ministers adopted the Gulf Awareness Plan for Combating Tobacco usage. With regard to the expatriate workers, the ministers approved increasing the number of centers in the accredited cities of Philippines and Indonesia as well as establishing centers for testing workers from Sudan, Syria, Ethiopia and Eritrea. The Ministers decided to establish a GCC Council for Nursing Specialties as well as approve all terms of the strategic plan of making the Arabian Peninsula free of malaria. The Council of Health Ministers mandated the Gulf Commission for Central Registration to set up a mechanism to activate the decision of unifying prices of medicines imported by the private sector as well as approve the US dollar as a currency used in the import price. Also, the Council recommended the approval of the Executive Regulation of the GCC Health Specialties Council. The GCC is made up of Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Kuwait, Qatar, Bahrain and Oman.
