Kuwait to emulate Canadian model in dealing with auto-road accidents

Kuwait needs to adopt the Canadian approach to dealing with the ubiquity of hospital care for auto-accident patients, said Minister of Health Ali Al-Obaidi, while meeting here on Saturday with a team of Canadian health providers. The Canadian model, he told KUNA, was instrumental in reducing deaths as a result of road accidents from 50 percent in 1993 to 18 percent in 1998 to 9 percent in 2002, reaching to as low as 4 percent currently. It is incumbent on the Ministry of Health to apply this model to reduce the enormous rate of fatalities on Kuwaiti roads and highways, he said, noting that cooperation with Canadian specialists would go far in achieving more manageable rates of fatalities. On his part the ministry's Undersecretary for Technical Tasks Dr Jamal Al-Harbi told KUNA that ministry officials discussed with the visiting Canadian team the possibility of sending Kuwaiti physicians to Canadian hospitals to get expertise on treating patients of road accidents and on developing effective methods of treatment of patients in intensive care units (ICUs). He further said the ministry of health also sought to learn from the Canadians the best ways to run outpatient clinics with the emphasis on reducing the frequency of their use by recurrent patients. The visiting Canadian team of health providers conducted in their current visit to the country a number of lectures and seminars and workshops directed at local physicians, nursing staff, and medical technicians, said Dr Reda Jenna, head of medical emergencies at Adan Hospital, adding that the Canadian team apprised the local health givers of the latest methods in dealing with emergency room care. On its part, the Canadian team spoke favorably of the health care system in Kuwait while noting that it could progress easily through extensive training programs and boosting the spirit of team work.