The Workforce Training and Development Department of the Primary Health Care Corporation (PHCC) successfully organized the Joslin Diabetes Event "Changing Paradigm in Primary Care Diabetes Management” for the second time in Qatar in collaboration with the Joslin Diabetes Center of Harvard Medical School, United States.

Joslin Diabetes Center is the world's largest diabetes research center, a diabetes medical care provider and diabetes education and learning provider. Among Harvard Medical School's affiliated institutions, Joslin Diabetes Center is unique in its exclusive focus on diabetes.

Additionally, Joslin Diabetes Center has the world's largest team of board-certified physicians treating diabetes and its associated complications, as well as the largest team of certified diabetes educators globally. Jocelyn also supports the world's leading diabetes research team with more than 40 faculty-level investigators and more than 300 researchers.

The event was inaugurated by Dr. Khalid Al-Karbi, Family Medicine Consultant and Manager of Clinical Training Department of Training and Workforce Development Department and attended by more than 360 participants including PHCC family physicians, general practitioners, pharmacists, and allied healthcare professional, in addition to other entities including Hamad Medical Corporation (HMC), Qatar Red Crescent (QRCS), Military Clinic, Police Clinic and a number of attendees from the private sector.  Some notable dignitaries in medicine also attended as guests of honor from Hamad Medical Corporation (HMC), Qatar Diabetes Association (QDA) and Qatar Red Crescent (QRCS).

In his speech, Dr. Al Karbi welcomed Joslin lecturers, HMC lecturers and attendees to the event. He emphasized the fact that diabetes poses a global growing challenge to health care as the International Diabetes Federation (IDF) has estimated that 537 million people (20-79 years) live with diabetes from 2021, and this number is projected to increase to 643 million by 2030 and further to 783 million by 2045.

Diabetes is also a major health challenge confronting Qatar and in order to tackle this increasingly serious problem, Qatar's National Diabetes Strategy (QNDS) has been developed. One of the QNDS key pledges is to "build and maintain a strong and empowered workforce to deliver the future model of diabetes care where every healthcare professional has a robust understanding of diabetes and diabetes care options”.

“Organizing educational activities such as this event and implementing interdisciplinary education approach support our vision to develop a highly skilled and motivated health care workforce. This also aligns with PHCC strategic commitments towards Qatar National Vision 2030, the development of our healthcare professionals to lead the improvement and advancement of health services, and the provision of safety to all our patients in PHCC and Qatar” Dr. Al Karbi said.

The event, approved by the Ministry of Public Health (MoPH), included four interactive lectures as follows:

1. Mastering diabetes management: key insights and guidelines, delivered by Professor Osama Hamdy, Associate Professor at Harvard Medical School and Medical Director of Obesity Clinics at Joslin Diabetes Center.
2. Summary of National and Regional Diabetes Management Strategies, delivered by Professor Abdulbadie Abusamra, Director of Qatar Metabolic Institute, Chief Quality Officer at HMC and Co-Chair of Qatar National Diabetes Committee.
3. Diabetes Prevention and Management: primary care perspective, delivered by Dr. Samia Ahmed Abdullah, Executive Director of Operations, and Senior Family Medicine Consultant, PHCC.  
4. Interactive Cases Discussion, delivered by Dr. Mohammed Bashir, Senior Endocrine Consultant, HMC.

In addition, three workshops were conducted on parallel to the event as follows:

1. Pre-Diabetic Prevention in Obese Cases: delivered by Dr, Amin Jayoussi, Senior Endocrinology Consultant, HMC.
2. Newly Diagnosed Individual with Diabetes: delivered by Dr. Mashhood Ahmed, Endocrinology Consultant, HMC.
3. Uncontrolled Diabetic Individual with Suboptimal Therapy: delivered by Dr. Abdulnasser El Zoki, Head of Internal Medicine, HMC.

The event was managed by:

1. Dr. Yasser Morsy, Senior Clinical Trainer, Pharmacy Specialist, PHCC, and Associate Professor, University of Colorado, US.
2. Dr. Tariq Al Hadd, Senior Endocrinology Consultant, HMC.