Ministry of Health successfully concludes Pain and CNS Academy Conference

UAE, February 9, 2016– The Ministry of Health (MoH) and its Specialized Healthcare and National Mental Health Program in coordination with the Al Amal Psychiatric Hospital and Al Baraha Hospital, has successfully concluded the regional medical conference on "Pain and CNS Academy," at the Intercontinental Festival City Hotel - Dubai. The conference was held under the patronage H.E. Dr. Yousef Al Serkal, Assistant Undersecretary for Hospitals Sector, with the support of Pfizer Global Pharmaceutical Industries. The event aims to provide new insights relevant to the clinical practice of health care providers in the region on the treatment of pain, depression and anxiety.

The conference was inaugurated by H.E. Dr. Muna Al Kuwari, Director of the Ministry’s Specialized Healthcare and the National Mental Health Program, in the presence of Dr. Abdulaziz Al Zarouni, Director of Al Amal Hospital and Acting Deputy Director of Dubai Medical District. The conference drew the participation of around 550 international and regional experts specializing in mental health, neurology, orthopedics and rheumatology, anesthesiology, and family medicine.

The morning session focused on a discussion on the link between pain and mental health and the resulting bio-psychosocial impact. Two separate conferences were also held, one for the treatment of acute and chronic pain, headed by Dr. Yaqoub Al Hammadi, consultant and Head of the Department of Orthopedic Surgery at Sheikh Khalifa Medical City, and Chairman of the UAE Society of Orthopedic Surgery. The second conference focused on the treatment of anxiety and depression, and was headed by Dr. Adel Al Karrani, Consultant Psychiatrist and Head of the UAE Society of Psychiatry and Medical Director of the American Center of Neurology and Psychiatry.

Lectures on key issues in the field of mental health were presented by Dr. Amna Turki Al Ali, consultant psychiatrist and Head of the Training and Development Department at Al Amal Hospital, and Dr. Mohammed Suwaidan, Assistant Professor of Psychiatry at the University of Toronto and the University of Kuwait and Head of the Psychiatry unit in Mubarak Al Kaber Hospital in Kuwait, and Dr. George Papakostas, Assistant Professor at Harvard University and Director of the Department of Resistant Depression.

Several local and international speakers participated in the pain management -focused discussion such as Dr. Suad Hannawi, Consultant, Internal Medicine and Rheumatology in Al Baraha Hospital, and Prof. Stephan Schug, Head of Anesthesia Unit of Pharmacology and Anesthesia at the University of Western Australia and Director of Pain Medicine at the Royal Perth Hospital, in addition to a number of international and regional experts in the field.

During the accompanying workshop, participating faculty and attendees developed a model as part of a strategic move to meet the established objectives. The frame work includes allocating community psychiatric multidisciplinary teams who will be tasked with delivering mental health and psychosocial rehabilitative services including home care in each medical district. The teams will include family physicians and general practitioners, nurses, psychologists and social workers from primary care who have received advanced training in addressing mental health issues.

The community teams shall work under the supervision of specialized secondary care services personnel and will be responsible of coordinating activities between primary care and secondary care to facilitate mental health services and physical health as well as chronic cases.