Educators-led Diabetes Mini Clinics in Sudan

 

“There are 1.7 million diabetic patients in Sudan” said Prof.Mohamed Ali Eltom, “and the number is increasing because of the social life. Consumption of excessive sugar, starch, oil and no exercise is the cause. We need to work on both prevention and care at the primary level”.

Diabetes Care Organization (DCO) was formed three years ago under the Chairmanship of Prof. Mohamed Ali Eltom. DCO is a non-profit organization comprising health professionals, businessmen, social activists spread across 12 states in Sudan who work with Diabetics, provide them with medications, advocacy, tell them about patient rights and carry out awareness campaigns on diabetes. They had a campaign last Thursday in a village called Kabashi in Khartoum North.

Under the leadership of former Ambassador Dr.Mohamed Ali Eltom, DCO has initiated a one year post graduate diploma course for ‘Diabetes Educators’. This is in collaboration with the University of Ahfad and the Federal Ministry of Health. This course will be provided for 100 healthcare professionals. The course will consist of a three-month intensive training at the University of Ahfad that includes lectures, workshops, student presentations, and clinical work. The curriculum of the course is based on the “International Curriculum for Diabetes Health Professional Education” designed by the International Diabetes Federation (IDF). Upon successful completion and examination of the postgraduate course, students will be granted a diploma in diabetes education. The course has been approved by the scientific board of the University of Ahfad, and accredited by the Ministry of Higher Education.

Following the course, diabetes educators will complete a nine month internship at Diabetes Mini Clinics, and sign contracts to work at the DMC for three years after completing the training program. In addition, the diabetes educators will be the focal point of the Diabetes Association and act as diabetes coordinators for the district health authority. The DMCs will be integrated into the existing health care system. The key feature of the DMCs will be self-management and care training delivered by well-informed diabetes educators and medical practitioners. Each DMC will dedicate at least one day per year for community diabetes screening and awareness.

Prof.Mohamed Al Eltom said that the Diabetes Centre in Dongula is the best so far with mobile clinic, awareness programmes and patient monitoring. DCO provides only technical support but no financial assistance.

Life saving medicines donated to Khartoum State Ministry of Health

We are all aware that recent rains and floods have affected thousands of people in Khartoum and other areas. Some of the people have lost their lives and the rest have lost their homes and property. As an aftermath of this crisis the major problem that arises in the affected people are diseases like malaria, gastrointestinal infections and other infections. As a social responsibility to help the affected people, Fast International Company a leading importer of medicines from India, Jordan, Cyprus, Austria, Switzerland and Egypt donated life saving medicines and other medications to the Khartoum State Ministry of Health on 2^nd September’13. Dr.Mamoun Homeida thanked Dr.Tarig Mohy Eldin Algemiabi the Chairman & CEO of the company. The value of the medicines donated was SDG 400 million. Dr.Tarig was happy to extend this help because the State Ministry he said knows where and who are the needy people for these medications.

The Changing Role of Community Pharmacists FROM DRUG DISPENSATION TO MEDICAL INFORMATION

According to the National Association of Boards of Pharmacy in USA, there are as many as 7000 deaths annually from incorrect prescriptions. These Medication Errors can occur in hospitals or pharmacies and the error may be made by any of the staff involved with choosing or dispensing medication.

 Medication Errors may be of the following types:

Inappropriate medications: the wrong medication given for a disease.

Wrong medication: the patient gets the wrong medication despite the doctor prescribing the correct one.

Drug name mix-ups:  several medications have similar-sounding names and can be mixed up by doctors or pharmacists.

Wrong medication combinations:  there are numerous types of medications that should not be mixed, because of side-effects and cross-reactions when combined.

Adverse reactions to medications:  some people have allergic or other adverse reactions to certain medications. These are risks and not necessarily avoidable mistakes if the person has no previous history of a particular adverse reaction.

Side Effects of medication:  Almost all medications have some types of side effects. Some are mild and some not so mild. It is almost impossible to know whether a person will have side effects from a medication.

Non-compliance: the failure to follow your medication regimen can be a mistake made usually by the patient.

A survey in the city of Khartoum revealed that the drug mix-ups due to similar sounding drugs may occur between Podoxime and Poxidium; Diaxine and Digoxin; Methycobal and Methyldopa; Yesolon and Yesytion. Each one of these names is a different medicine prescribed for different diseases. The mix- ups happen more when the prescriber’s handwriting is not very clear.

Sometimes a Doctor prescribes Chloramphenicol Eye Drops but by mistake Chloramphenicol Ear Drops is dispensed to the patient due to unclear handwriting of the words Eye and Ear.

Sometimes mistakes are made because the packaging is very similar of different medications. The bottles of Yexoral and Yamidine look similar and when Pharmacists are very busy at the counter such mistakes may occur. The former is a mouth wash and the latter an antiseptic solution.

As a consumer you can avoid these errors by going back to the Physician with the medication dispensed to you for verification.

The best way to minimize Medication Errors is by continuous training and development of Community Pharmacists and by providing Medical Information Services to Pharmacists.

Community Pharmacists are recognized as the expert on medicines , the most accessible healthcare professional, often the first point of contact for patients with health enquiries and for some the only contact. There are Good Pharmacy Practice (GPP) guidelines and Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) which assure quality and consistency of the service. This enables the Pharmacist to follow good dispensing procedures which comprises checking the prescription that it is clinically correct for the patient, checking drug interactions, labeling, re-checking accuracy against prescription and delivery to the patient with the appropriate advice about the medication.

Khartoum Medicines Information Centre (KhMIC) was established by the General Directorate of Pharmacy –Khartoum State in the year 2000, aiming at developing the pharmaceutical services provided to citizens and medical care professionals. KhMIC provides many services including responding to all questions and queries related to medicines and received from customers using the latest methods.

For the first time in Sudan, an electronic Patient Medication Record (ePMRx) and Labeling System has been installed at Khartoum Centre for Pharmaceutical Care Practice (KCPCP).

Dr.Abdelrahman Hamid Ahmed B.Pharm, M.Sc, PhD, MAPS of the University of Bath, U.K. keeps visiting Khartoum from time to time to conduct workshops under the Ministry of Health for Pharmacists. He has introduced MiDatabank, a Windows software application that enables Medical Information Pharmacists to answer, record, store and analyse Medical Information Enquiries, Complaints and Adverse Drug Reactions. Dr. Abdelrahman  Hamid Ahmed  has made it his mission to upgrade the professionalism of Community Pharmacists in Sudan and introduce the concept of Medical Information Pharmacists.

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Captions for Photographs:

      Above: Khartoum Centre for Pharmaceutical Care Practice

Below:     Dr.Abderahman Hamid Ahmed

Celebration and Remembrance - Indian Ambassador requests Indian community to observe 2 minutes silence for lives lost in recent floods in Sudan and Northern India amidst celebrations of 66th anniversary of Indian Independence Day

Last Thursday, on 15^th August ’13, India celebrated the 66^th Anniversary of its Independence Day. The Indian community in Sudan assembled in the morning at India House in Khartoum, the official residence of the Ambassador of India to Sudan. His Excellency Mr. Sanjay Kumar Verma unfurled the Indian national flag and the national anthem was sung. He then extended his warm welcome to the Indian community on the special occasion and read out the highlights of the President of India’s message to the nation. The message started with homage to Mahatma Gandhi who shaped the liberation of the nation.The Ambassador then requested the community to observe two minutes silence in remembrance of the lives lost in recent floods both in Sudan and Uttarakhand in India. This was followed by a cultural programme in which children and ladies sang patriotic songs to commemorate India’s Independence.

Kerala Cultural Activity Centre (KCA) has been organizing this annual event for the Indian community in Khartoum for the last twelve years. The aim of the event is to celebrate Eid and Onam together which is attended by more than 1000 people from the Indian community residing in Khartoum, Omdurman, Bahri and the peripheries.

The core members of KCA are from Kerala, the tiniest state in the Southern tip of India. People from Kerala are very enterprising and comprise the majority of Indian expat community in the Gulf and neighbouring countries. Onam is a harvesting festival celebrated in Kerala and is symbolized by the home coming of King Mahabali. These festivities of Kerala are recreated by KCA in this grand yearly get-together of the community at St.Francis School in Khartoum. This year it was held on Saturday 10^th August in order to celebrate Eid at the same time.

The Eid & Onam Fest has become popular because KCA has not restricted the event to people from Kerala only but opened it to all Indians irrespective of their region. Thus the variety entertainment programme  staged at this festival truly represents the diversity of India. New talents are discovered every year amongst children, mothers and men who perform dances, sing regional songs and recite poems. The festivities are concluded with a traditional and sumptuous vegetarian meal.  

An additional feature this year was the cooking competition which was held in the morning. There were eight contestants who cooked wonderful dishes. This competition was sponsored by Petrola LPG gas the new name for Gapco.

It is worth mentioning that the Ambassador of India H.E. Mr. Sanjay Kumar Verma and his wife Mrs.Gunjan Verma encouraged the community with their active presence during the cooking competition in the day and at the cultural programme in the evening.

Sudan Bids Farewell to ONGC Chief Dr.Anil Bhandari

The river Nile in Sudan is pronounced as An neel. It sounds similar to Anil. This perhaps is one reason which brought Anil Bhandari to Sudan on 6^th July 2011 as Country Manager and Executive Director of ONGC Videsh Limited (OVL). OVL is India’s largest international oil and gas exploration and production company.

Dr.Anil Bhandari’s contribution in Sudan in these two years has been exemplary. During his tenure as country manager, the GNPOC operating company accreted highest ever reserves of 93.33 MMSTB and initiated Improved Oil Recovery and Enhanced Oil Recovery (IOR/EOR) program in Heglig and Bamboo fields of Sudan. This key highlight of his achievement involved delicate handling of sensitive situation in partitioned Sudan regime while preserving the ONGC/OVL interests intact. 

The Corporate Responsibility Programs in the last 2 years organized by Dr.Bhandari were much appreciated because it benefited the needy people of Sudan in the peripheries of Khartoum. Health Clinics are running in its operational areas. Free Diabetic and medical camps in different hospitals & Medical centers were organized in Khartoum. These camps provided free consultation, and medicines to thousands of under privileged patients. In the area of Education 5000 school kits have been distributed to children in different schools in Khartoum State and West Kordofan. Some schools have been supported with Black Boards and other teaching aids. Assistance was also provided in form of class room tables-chairs and civil repairs of school buildings. The  company also supported the  students at Khartoum  University – Faculty of Mathematics, Science with Licenses for  IT  Library, which  allows  them  to  access  thousand  of  latest IT books.  OVL together with Sudan Football Association has distributed 10,000 footballs to various sports clubs & schools in the different parts of Sudan State. OVL provided assistance in planting, ploughing, seeding and technical services for cultivating sorghum food grain in 6,000 acres of land to cover large segment of community in the Unity and Kordofan states (Debap/ Nama).  Over 11,000 poor family members have benefited in getting   sorghum food grains. OVL along with International Volunteers Women’s Group (IVWG) together funded and built the Branch No.3 of Al Amal Institution for Deaf & Dumb in Omdurman and also completed the building of the classrooms in this school. ONGC also provided the furniture to these class rooms.

Dr. Anil Bhandari is an eminently proficient geologist. His core competence spans the entire spectrum of Exploratory and Developmental aspects of the Indian oil industry. Dr. Bhandari’s scholastic achievements include a number of well-regarded scientific publications (including books), invited lectures and plenary and distinct accolades for his geo-scientific research. His remarkable contributions in the field of Geology brought him national recognition through coveted National Mineral Award-2002 of the Government of India, followed by Prof. S.N Bhalla Gold medal in 2009 by the Paleontological Society of India. Besides contributing to the practical and theoretical landscape of the oil industry, Dr. Bhandari has been propelling career and leadership development at various levels of ONGC Ltd. for past fifteen years. 

As ONGC’s team leader, he lead negotiations with South Sudan Government on Transitional Agreement on ONGC’s operating blocks in Sudan. This includes his prominent role in African Union Negotiations at Addis Ababa between Sudan and South Sudan on oil tariff—a topic that has attracted world attention. 

It is time for us to bid him farewell because he has been promoted as Director- Explorations and will be based at the ONGC headquarters in New Delhi. His selection came out of 15 prominent contenders for the high profile post.

In a recent interview after his selection for the top post, Dr.Bhandari said Oil security of nation is the main concern to ONGC. OVL has set the target to achieve 20 MMT of Oil and Oil Equivalent Gas by 2018 and 60 MMT by 2030.To achieve this target he would focus on balance portfolio by acquiring producing assets and developed assets in focus areas. About the long term goals, Bhandari said “We are an E&P company and should focus on exploration assets that can produce in the next seven or eight years. OVL should buy good conventional exploration assets at nascent stage without paying too much of a premium to hit OVL’s target to produce 60m tones of oil equivalent by 2030”

People in Sudan particularly the Indian community will miss both Dr.Anil Bhandari and his wife Mrs. Anju Bhandari. Both were very social and Mrs.Anju Bhandari has been an excellent hostess and organizer of community functions.

We wish that they visit Khartoum in future both for oil explorations and simply to drink the water of An neel.

Sports Beyond Boundaries

Hatim Mohamed Elfatih was a Kung Fu champion in Khartoum. He was also a certified coach. His father decided to send Hatim and his three brothers to India for studies. After settling down with his studies in New Delhi for a Bachelor’s degree of Computer Applications (BCA), he could not stay away from Martial Arts for too long. He found out about a Korean coach for Taekwondo and started practicing the new variant of martial art. Within six months his skill was noticed by his master and he was selected to participate in the Chuncheon Open International Taekwondo Championship in Korea. As expected by his coach, he won the first place in the Yellow Belt category. Interestingly, he was considered as a participant from India. When this writer asked Hatim how it felt to represent India being a Sudanese, he replied that he was very happy and proud to represent India. He thanks India for having been given the opportunity to participate in an International Martial  Arts Competition. This is a real illustration of Sports Beyond Boundaries.