Non Communicable Diseases

Heart disease is one of the leading causes of death in the Kingdom of Bahrain, and chronic diseases such as hypertension, hyperlipidemia, diabetes, smoking and obesity are among the leading causes of heart diseases. The Ministry of Health allocates a large proportion of its budget to provide medicines to treat these diseases, not to mention the laboratory equipment and analysis they provide to diagnose and treat the complications of these diseases.

The NCD clinic has been integrated into the primary health care system, focusing on reducing the risk factors that lead to heart disease, such as hyperlipidemia, smoking and obesity, which results in reducing the complications of these diseases. The clinics are located in all health centers where both the doctor and the nurse work together with the health promotion specialist and the medical records section. Educating patients about these diseases and helping them follow healthy lifestyles is one of the most important areas of this clinic as well as treatment. As a part of the preventive services, the clinic provides vaccination for patients with chronic illness such as seasonal influenza vaccination, diphtheria and tetanus vaccination, hepatitis B vaccination, pneumococcal conjugate vaccination, pneumococcal polysaccharide vaccination and chicken pox vaccine.

Sickle-cell anemia is a hereditary blood disorder in which the genes responsible for the formation of hemoglobin are disturbed, causing the adhesion of red cells within the microvascular system, and thus lower blood and oxygen flow to organs of the body, resulting in the symptoms associated with the crises.

People with Sickle-cell anemia suffer severe pain, shortness of breath, and other symptoms. Sickle-cell anemia has been classified by the United Nations as one of the most serious hereditary diseases in the world; it sometimes can be fatal, it is prevalent in several African and Asian countries. Therefore, the Ministry of Health in the Kingdom of Bahrain pays great attention to the health of sickle cell anaemia patients by providing the best health services aiming to improve the quality of SCD patients’ life. In order to provide them with the best possible care and comfort, Primary health care opened SCD clinics in Some Health centers to facilitate services to the patients. The clinic consists of a trained health staff consisting of a nurse, doctor, Health record clerk, laboratory technician, social worker and health promotion specialist to provide integrated patient health services. It includes preventive and curative services. The medical staff was also trained on how to deal with emergency cases and acute crisis.