Janadriyah highlights technological advances

Common visitors received a rare opportunity to see up-close Saudi Arabia’s multifunctional satellites at the Janadriyah National Heritage and Cultural Festival. Four Saudi satellites are displayed at the pavilion of King Abdul Aziz City for Science and Technology (KACST). The Kingdom launched 12 satellites into the earth’s orbit over the past 10 years. An average of 300 women are visiting the health information section of the Ministry of Health in the festival, said director of the section Nora Al-Harbi. Specialists in various branches of medicine are replying to visitors’ questions. The specialists also encourage visiting women to breastfeed their babies as the best way to ensure good health for both mother and baby. The specialists also tell women what difficulties a woman might experience at the breastfeeding stage. They also advised women to undergo tests for early detection of breast cancer and other serious diseases. The College of Food Technology and Environment in Buraidah, a subsidiary of the Technical and Vocational Training Corporation, presented highly nutrient dishes at its counters in the festival. The college has been participating in the festival over the past many years with the aim of the familiarizing its services, director of public relations Yusuf Al-Olayan said. “The college’s stall distributes booklets and organizes workshops focusing on the products and services of the college,” Al-Olayan said. The college staff and students demonstrated various phases of manufacturing 50 food items and their packaging, employing the latest technology. Staff at the college are specially trained Saudis, the official said. The college also specializes in poultry breeding. The college’s environment section displays environment protection methods such as waste recycling, ways of disposing organic waste and safe handling of pesticides and fertilizers. The college also has stalls on food safety which focuses on ideal methods of food preservation. The number of blood donors at the health affairs section of the National Guard reached 630 men and 120 women as of Wednesday. Majority of the donors are youths aged around 17, said coordinator of the center Muhammad Al-Anazi. “However we refused to receive blood from 634 men and 234 women because they were either diabetic or suffered from some other diseases,” Al-Anazi said. A youth has to fill in a questionnaire containing 49 questions regarding his or her personal and health matters before qualifying to be a donor, Al-Anazi said. It is from the answers, which are confidential, that blood bank operators screened out applicants who were not fit to be donors, he said.