The 3rd International Breast Cancer Conference kicked off in Kuwait officially on Thursday, activities taking place March 30 - April 1, 2011 , with focus on practical rather than theoretical approach to improving care for cancer patients.
The organizer of the event is Dr. Medhat Oteifa, head of the surgery department at Kuwait's Makki Jumaa cancer care center, told KUNA this type of focus is the conference's specific importance. A workshop had accordingly been held for the participants before the actual meetings where surgical intervention specialists took part and performed eight surgeries.
At the end of the conference, another workshop would be held for young doctors in this field to improve their abilities to provide higher quality care for their future patients.
The results of the first workshop were "excellent" compared to standards of surgeries to remove the breast and enhance appearance after such surgeries in the past, Oteifa pointed out. The conferences and workshops have the added value of increasing public awareness and encouraging regular checkups to guarantee early detection of cancers, he noted.
The two-day conference sees the participation of 22 visiting experts and specialists from leading cancer care centers in France, Germany, Italy, Scandinavia, and Egypt.
Upon inauguration of the event, Assistant Health Undersecretary for Technical Affairs Khalid Al-Sahlawi said that it is vital to increase attention to developing expertise and quality of care provided to patients to keep abreast with the increase in number of patients worldwide. Encouraging research and holding conferences and workshops to exchange expertise and awareness of new research findings is of great value to care givers, he also stressed. - Kuna