Kuwait hosts GCC conference on healthcare professional development

The First Gulf Cooperation Council Conference on Evidence-Based Healthcare Professional Development began on Sunday aiming to upgrade current practice or correct malpractice.
The two-day conference, currently being held at Kuwait University, is being organised by healthcare investment company, Kuwait Life Sciences, in cooperation with the Saudi Society for Evidence-Based Healthcare (Borhan).
Speaking at the conference, Kuwait's Ministry of Health Undersecretary for Technical Affairs, Qais Al-Dowairi highlighted the need for in-depth self-assessment through identifying points of deficiency across the various healthcare sectors, and developing them accordingly in order to create an inclusive mechanism.
He said Kuwait was aiming at this in its five-year state development plan, along with increasing its in-house patient capacity and placing a greater emphasis on advanced technologies in the field and additional skilled manpower.
The conference will result in the Kuwait declaration on evidence-based healthcare, which will be the first of its kind in the Arab region, according to conference chair Tawfiq Khoja.
The document will highlight the principles and will set a strategy for healthcare professional development in the Gulf Cooperation Council based on an assessment of relevant international equivalents.
It will be passed on to each of the World Health Organisation, the Arab League Health Ministers' Council and the GCC Health Ministers' Council, he added.
The matter is set to be discussed in an annual rotation across GCC member states by their health ministers in order to instill the concept of healthcare professional development, he revealed.
For his part, organising committee member and Kuwait Life Sciences CEO Mohammad Al-Enezi said that the talks aim to shed light on the matter through emphasizing three key issues.
These include the performance of healthcare professionals as one unified and homogenous team, exploring practical and effective strategies to implement continuous professional development (CPD) based on evidence and clinical practices and addressing major issues of miscommunication and intercommunication between healthcare professionals.
The talks are expected to host a number of key speakers, including local and international healthcare experts and professionals.
They will also be holding workshops, practical sessions and public debates, including a 'with and against' voting system.