Source: www.rta.ae
In cooperation with the Prime Medical Center in Dubai, the Administrative Services Department, at Roads and Transport Authority (RTA), has recently organized an awareness lecture on the risk factors of cardio-vascular diseases.
The lecture was delivered in the context of the Department’s continuing endeavours during the current year to organize several useful events aiming at educating RTA’s employees about these diseases.
Nabeel Yousef Al Ali, Director of RTA’s Administrative Services Department, stated that such healthcare lectures tended to have a significant benefit and positive impact on the RTA’s employees as they were meant to properly educate them on a number of present-time diseases and provide a set of solutions for the prevention of such diseases. He said that focusing on the topic of cardiac and vascular diseases as a pivotal point of discussion had a considerable significance since these diseases ranked on the forefront of the ailments causing death and disability all over the world.
He stressed RTA’s permanent endeavours to interact and communicate with various external organizations to exchange experiences and impart the required knowledge to the RTA’s employees through a host of selective and useful lectures for them.
On his part, Dr. Riyadh Mahdi Salih, Senior Consultant of Internal Medicine and Cardiologist at Prime Medical Center, delivered a visual presentation before the attendants, in which he reflected on a number of important basic information on cardiac and vascular diseases. In his presentation, Dr. Riyadh pointed out that in countries all over the world, particularly industrial countries; mortality rate caused by cardio-vascular diseases was as high as 50% compared to 25% in the developing countries. In this connection, he singled out the main factors contributing to the onset of heart attacks such as smoking, diabetes and improper dietary habits.
During the presentation, Dr. Riyadh pointed out that 43% to 46% of women and men in Europe respectively die for causes attributed to heart and vascular problems. Nearly 1.5 million people in the United States die of myocardial infarction with 300,000 of whom dying before reaching the hospital.
In collaboration with Zulekha Healthcare Group, RTA Administrative Services Department and Human Resources & Development Department organized a workshop themed “Obesity and its Risks” in order to offer maximum exposure, achieve highest levels of excellence culture, disseminate knowledge amongst RTA’s employees and contribute to fostering a suitable & innovative working environment.
Nabeel Al Ali, Director of the RTA’s Administrative Services, said that a joint plan was worked out by the Department in collaboration with the Human Resources Department during the current year concerning the organization of several distinctive lectures and workshops as part of efforts made to meet the obligations towards the community.
“These lectures and workshops belong to the Eighth Standard of the Dubai Government Excellence Program and are intended to meet the needs and expectations of employees. These healthcare lectures, which are being regularly held and delivered by prominent experts and doctors specialized in different areas of medicine, are important and have a positive impact on instilling a great deal of useful and important information enriching the intellectual stock of employees, particularly the cooperation with various organizations; which is the first step towards disseminating proper health awareness.
The community-related workshop held under the theme “Obesity and its Risks” included a healthcare lecture entitled “Your health can be Better in Simple Steps” delivered by Nafeesah Ahmed, Director of Nutrition and Lifestyle Department at Zulekha Healthcare Group. At the beginning of her lecture, she highlighted the ideal weight appropriate for each person explaining that the natural weight suiting an individual was that one which made him/her in a good state of health. She pointed out that having too much of fats would have a negative impact on the body and may make the person vulnerable to many diseases and physical and health problems.
She explained that the obesity rates were rapidly increasing among males and females of all ages & categories all over the world; a phenomenon which had tangibly and clearly contributed to disseminating many diseases and health problems. For this reason, she called upon all attendants to re-schedule their daily lifestyle by following correct dietary regimes, particularly since food and nutrition play an important and basic role in maintaining an individual’s state of health in general.
It is noteworthy that RTA’s male and female employees underwent general medical check-up and health fitness tests as well as free blood sugar tests as part of the health awareness program to educate them about the prevention of today’s diseases.