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New mother and child care centre to be set up in capital

ABU DHABI -The Ministry of Health (MoH), in cooperation with the Health Authority Abu Dhabi (HAAD), will set up a new and comprehensive maternal and child health centre in Abu Dhabi.

Humaid Mohammed Obaid Al Quttami, Minister of Health, told reporters during his visit to the National Screening Programme for Woman and Child Health (NSPWCH), recently relocated to Al Mushrif area, that the current centre is a seed for a bigger centre focusing on early detection of genetic diseases, pre-marital counselling, as well as more comprehensive maternal and child healthcare.

Al Quttami added school health will also be incorporated into the new centre, to be established in the near future.

Currently, the NSPWCH programme conducts free mammography for all women, phenylketonuria (PKU) testing for newborns as well as pre-marital testing.

Babies with the genetic disease PKU need foods low in phenylalanine (found in protein including breast milk) to prevent severe brain damage. The centre conducts blood tests to detect the disease, and has so far detected 35 cases across the country.

"Genetic diseases, if not detected early, can be a burden on the family and the entire society. Thus we are very keen on providing accessible early detection facilities for the entire community," said Al Quttami.

"My name is Shareefa. I am 43 years old. It was in January 2003 when I was diagnosed with breast cancer. I had always thought that cancer means death, but having breast cancer has been a wake-up call for me. Now I realise that I need to take better care of myself." A breast cancer survivor and the president of a support group for breast cancer survivors at Shaikh Khalifa Medical Complex (SKMC) called Ladies of Courage, Shareefa Sayed, a UAE national, is one of the many women who have been saved by the National Breast Screening Programme, part of the NSPWCH.

At the Ladies of Courage meeting, held every month at SKMC, Shareefa relates her story to recovering women to give them support and hope.

"I am very thankful that I came to the centre. That fateful afternoon in January of 2003, when I came to get a mammography saved my life, as my cancer was discovered at an early stage. I always tell the women diagnosed with breast cancer not to travel abroad, as we have the best facilities right here in the country," she said.

According to Dr Mohammed Abdalateef, Radiologist and Second Reader at the National Breast Cancer Screening Programme, the number of women frequenting the centre to undergo mammography has dramatically increased since the programme's inception in 1995.

As cancer is the second leading cause of death among women and breast cancer constitutes 38 per cent of cancers, Dr Abdalateef said all women over 40 should visit the centre to get a mammography done, stressing that the procedure is completely safe.

Dr Hajer Al Hosani, Director of Maternal and Child Health Department at the MoH, said that since 1995, 50,000 women have been tested for breast cancer, and around 300 have been sent for further medical treatment at hospitals.

The centre is introducing digital mammography for the first time, which is a more accurate method of detecting breast cancer, especially in younger patients (those under 35), according to Dr Jalaa Asaad Taher, Senior Breast Cancer Programme Manager.