Introduction
As a company that deals in the provision of diabetes supplies to the general public, Salehiya Medical can be described as an institution that is well poised to assist the general public when it comes to its expertise in the field of diabetes treatment and detection. This is an important factor to consider since it’s home market, Saudi Arabia has one of the highest diabetes prevalence rates in the world. Studies such as those by Alhumaidi, Agha & Dewish (2013) have indicated that within Riyadh alone adult males that are within the age range of 30-70 years have a diabetes prevalence rate of 23.7% with women having a similar rate at 26.2%. The rate seen among children was also shown to be at 14% with roughly 68 percent of the child population in Riyadh showing symptoms of diabetes when examined by the local health department (Alhumaidi, Agha & Dewish, 2013). What this shows is that within Riyadh, there is an endemic case of diabetes within the population which can start at a very young age and contributes to the relatively high rate of diabetes seen in the adult half of the population.
The Working Class and Diabetes
While the proliferation of cases of diabetes may seem like a good thing for Salehiya Medical since this means that more people will be buying the company’s products, the inherent issue within Riyadh is that despite having a reputation for extravagance which can be seen through its various upscale malls, condominiums, and luxury cars, the fact remains that there has been little in the way of progress by the government in helping working-class citizens elevate the quality of life that they are currently experiencing. Within the context of diabetes treatment and detection, this means that the poor in the country do not know whether they have diabetes or not and also lack the means to be able to pay for proper testing and long term treatment options (Habeb, Al-Magamsi, Eid, Ali, Hattersley Hussain & Ellard, 2012).
As explained by Alhowaish (2013), the money that is earned by the working class of society often goes towards survival with allocations towards medical expenses, often being their lowest priority. The result of such a condition is the continued untreated progression of certain sicknesses which, more often than not, causes a member of the urban working class to die (Alhowaish, 2013). It is based on this that alternatives need to be implemented within the context of diabetes treatment and detection in Riyadh to prevent needless deaths.
Preventing the Proliferation of Diabetes
As mentioned earlier, since Salehiya Medical is well poised to be able to provide the necessary medical and technical expertise to address such an issue, the company should attempt some means of providing a positive contribution towards the local community in Riyadh. The problem though is that proper diabetes testing and implementing treatment procedures is incredibly expensive due to the necessity of insulin shots along with the fees associated with hiring medical personnel for checkups. Since 23.7% of men and 26.2% of women have been noted as having diabetes in Riyadh, with a vast majority of them belonging to the urban working class, it becomes immediately obvious that Salehiya Medical simply does not have the resources to be able to treat them all or provide the care they need. Diabetes is a life long illness that requires constant vigilance and medical treatment and, as such, the company cannot give out treatments for free simply because people cannot afford it (Al-Rubeaan, Youssef & Subhani, 2014). Alternative methods of preventing the proliferation of diabetes within Riyadh need to be developed that are both economically feasible and effective.
Proposed Plan for Resolving the Issue
The proposed plan for addressing this issue comes in the form of Salehiya Medical funding a localized information campaign within Riyadh to make people more aware about diabetes, its symptoms and how many people within the city have the condition. Through an information campaign and then sponsoring various non-government organizations to help tackle the issue, this strategy should help in addressing the issue of diabetes without costing the company significant amounts of money. The best method of resolving this issue is not to target diabetes directly since there is no way for the company to examine every single person in Riyadh to check whether they have diabetes or not, rather, a more effective method would be to discourage the consumption of food that leads to developing diabetes and targeting children within the local schools in the country (Hashim, Yasser & Khatib, 2013). One way in which this can be accomplished is by encouraging the development of new legislation that focuses on informing children regarding the dangers certain types of food could have towards their long term health. With its medical expertise on the subject, Salehiya Medical would be able to create an effective strategic plan to determine what types of food children should be discouraged to eat in large amounts.
Justification for the Proposed Plan
Information campaigns have always been a way in which governments have controlled the consumption of particular types of food products that are considered bad for the public. For example, government-sponsored information campaigns that discourage the consumption of tobacco and alcohol are common in many countries. Through an enacted policy that focuses on discouraging the consumption of food identified as being the cause of diabetes, this would help to limit their consumption, which would result in fewer cases of diabetes in the future. The advantage of this plan as compared to possible alternatives is easy to see when taking into consideration the fact that the parents do care about the future of their children.
By being more informed about the dangers consumption of certain types of food have on the health of their kids; it is likely that they would prevent their children from eating those types of products in large amounts. On the other hand, it should also be taken into consideration that there would obviously be a backlash from the various companies in Riyadh that produce and sell products that lead to a person developing diabetes, however, the fact remains that should such a government policy be put into effect, the rate of diabetes would definitely decrease and this could save thousands of lives in the process.
Conclusion
Based on what has been presented so far, it can clearly be stated that Salehiya Medical has a responsibility to the local community in Riyadh to make them more aware about the various issues related to diabetes and help to institute policies to help the government address such an issue. As such, if Saudi Arabia is to resolve the problem of diabetes, the country needs to put in place the proper programs to help the rural poor and prevent the proliferation of the illness within the country.
Reference List
Alhowaish, A. K. (2013). Economic costs of diabetes in Saudi Arabia. Journal Of Family & Community Medicine, 20(1), 1-7.
Alhumaidi, M., Agha, A., & Dewish, M. (2013). Vitamin D Deficiency in Patients with Type-2 Diabetes Mellitus in Southern Region of Saudi Arabia. Maedica – A Journal Of Clinical Medicine, 8(3), 231-236.
Al-Rubeaan, K., Youssef, A. M., & Subhani, S. N., (2014). Diabetic Nephropathy and Its Risk Factors in a Society with a Type 2 Diabetes Epidemic: A Saudi National Diabetes Registry-Based Study. Plos ONE, 9(2), 1-9.
Habeb, A., Al-Magamsi, M., Eid, I., Ali, M., Hattersley, A., Hussain, K., & Ellard, S. (2012). Incidence, genetics, and clinical phenotype of permanent neonatal diabetes mellitus in northwest Saudi Arabia. Pediatric Diabetes, 13(6), 499- 505.
Hashim, F., Yasser, M., & Khatib, O. (2013). Clinical experience with insulin detemir, biphasic insulin aspart and insulin aspart in people with type 2 diabetes: Results from the Eastern Saudi Arabia cohort of the A1chieve study. Indian Journal Of Endocrinology & Metabolism, 17(S2), S453-S457.