Dundee University, DDI mark seven yrs of diabetes education in Kuwait

Graduation ceremony celebrates achievements of 40 new graduates

By Cinatra Fernandes

Arab Times Staff

KUWAIT CITY, Jan 21: The University of Dundee and Dasman Diabetes Institute marked seven years of delivering Postgraduate diabetes education in Kuwait with the fifth graduation ceremony of the Postgraduate Diabetes Care, Education and Management.

The Ceremony was held at the Institute on Sunday and attended by Prof Hilal Al Sayer, Chairman of the Board of Trustees of DDI, Dr Qais Al-Duwairi, Director of DDI, Prof Gary Mires, Dean of the School of Medicine at the University of Dundee and Prof Mairi Scott, Associate Dean International and Director of Kuwait-Scotland e-Health Innovation Programme at the University of Dundee as well as the UK Ambassador to Kuwait, Michael Davenport.

Diabetes is a significant challenge in Kuwait with a prevalence of 1 in 4 adults suffering from the disease. Since 2011, the University of Dundee, a world leader in clinical diabetes care and diabetes research and DDI have created and delivered a Postgraduate Masters programme in Diabetes Care, Education and Management.

The graduation ceremony celebrated the achievements of 40 new

Prof Mairi Scott

graduates who join a group of 180 total graduates across Kuwait through a programme that aims to deliver transformational change within the Kuwaiti healthcare system with a specific focus on diabetes.

“It is a great pleasure to share this moment to celebrate the great achievement of these hardworking students who we hope will accomplish even greater milestones in the near future”, Dr Qais Al-Duwairi remarked. He shared that the DDI was established by the Kuwait Foundation for the Advancement of Sciences with a mission to prevent, control and mitigate the impact of diabetes in Kuwait and its collaboration with the University of Dundee was geared towards promoting and supporting the education and training of healthcare professionals to serve the country and its population by enabling them to provide more effective care for the patients and improving the standard of care.

He shared that the union had demonstrated

Prof Gary Mires

much growth and development since the first batch graduated with certifications. Today, Diplomas and Master’s Degrees in diabetes care and education have been added to the achievements.

“The core mission of the University of Dundee is to transform lives locally and globally through the creation, sharing and application of knowledge. The graduates today are helping us achieve that mission by taking their new knowledge and skills and applying them to the care of their patients”, Prof Gary Mires said, describing the programme as being unique in integrating education, clinical improvement, management and research.

He shared that the University had been awarded the Scottish University of the Year for the second time in a row and had celebrated its 50th anniversary in 2017. While it is a young institution, Prof Mires shared that it was an ambitious one. “We have a goal for our transformation agenda to become Scotland’s leading University by 2027. In moving towards this ambitious objective, we have in 2017 been named among the Top 200 universities and within the Top 20 young universities in the world. The Medical School is ranked first in Scotland and fourth in the UK for Medicine.”

He added that graduates should not only celebrate their individual success but also that which has been achieved as a group — developing a supportive community of informed healthcare professionals throughout Kuwait.

The programme is available to a wide range of Kuwait based healthcare professionals who study part time while working. It involves face-to-face and innovative blended and interactive teaching, to enable healthcare professionals to provide more effective care to patients. Students gain specialised knowledge of diabetes along with educational and management training that supports them in effective communication with colleagues and patients. Students continue to encourage change through workplace based projects, published dissertation outcomes through journals.

Students undertake multiple work-based development projects as assignments with the aim of immediately improving and developing diabetes healthcare provision and reflective practice throughout healthcare providers in Kuwait. Over 450 students have enrolled in the programme so far and collectively achieved over 2,000 work-based projects, directly impacting diabetes care in Kuwait.