Emirates Health Services (EHS) has revealed a success story from Sharjah’s Al Qassimi Women’s & Children’s Hospital (AQWCH) where a child suffering from multiple sclerosis was treated to a high success rate, giving hope to multiple sclerosis patients across the UAE.

The achievement is the result of collaborative efforts between the medical staff and other stakeholders at AQWCH, which also offers outstanding post-hospital care to patients, which has helped shorten hospital stays and allow the children admitted to AQWCH to return to their normal lives.

Clinical Details

A 10-year-old boy was referred to a paediatric neurologist for seeing double, chronic headaches, and worsening academic performance. The patient had visited several hospitals where no diagnosis was reached. At AQWCH, physicians ran clinical examinations, where the lab work and radiology tests were used to determine the child’s illness, diagnosing him with multiple sclerosis a disease (a rare neurological disease usually seen in adults).

A treatment plan was immediately put into action, in line with national and international guidelines for multiple sclerosis. The patient was treated with corticosteroid derivatives, but the treatment failed to produce encouraging results. The medical team opted to use a new medication called Ocrelizumab that had never been used in children in the UAE. The medication is administered over the course of a few hours, under close supervision from the doctor and nursing staff. The positive response observed in the patient brings renewed hope for children suffering from multiple sclerosis.

An achievement of this kind was only made possible thanks to the tremendous support of UAE authorities, and the outstanding medical staff and services at AQWCH.

Pioneers in the Health Sector

Dr. Essam Howayyer, Director of the Hospitals Department at EHS, asserted that Emirates Health services is committed to continuously developing hospitals to meet the highest international standards and provide top-quality diagnostic and treatment services. “EHS is also constantly working to acquire the most advanced medical equipment and training medical staff to excel, all in an effort to enhance confidence in EHS hospitals, in line with our vision to enhance the quality and safety of health and treatment systems to meet the highest international standards and establish EHS as a pioneer in the healthcare sector,” he added.

Changing Patients’ Lives

Dr. Howayyer thanked the AQWCH staff for their efforts and performance, which have cemented the hospital’s outstanding reputation for alleviating the suffering of its patients and easing the burden on their families, crediting this success to the unlimited support that the wise leadership provides to the healthcare sector.

“EHS has set ambitious plans to promote innovation and excellence, adopt the most advanced treatments in its hospitals, attract highly skilled medical and scientific experts, and implement the highest standards of quality and excellence across all hospitals, in line with the UAE’s aspirations for the next 50 years and its centennial,” Dr. Howayyer concluded.

For her part, Dr. Safiya Al Khajeh, Director of AQWCH, noted: “Al Qassimi Women’s & Children’s Hospital has all the capabilities and the advanced technologies needed to ensure success in our diagnosis and treatment, not to mention a highly accomplished medical staff, skilled in addressing rare cases.”

Dr Al Khajeh applauded the medical team for developing the first-ever protocol for treating a case of this kind, noting that multiple sclerosis in children is extremely rare, occurring at a rate of less than 5%, and the delay in diagnosis and treatment may lead to further deterioration in the patients’ health. Primary and secondary hospitals must quickly transfer suspected cases to centres specialising in paediatric neurology, she advised.

Supporting EHS

Dr. Al Khajeh asserted that AQWCH’s success in treating the first case of its kind of a child with multiple sclerosis is the latest in a series of accomplishments the hospital has made towards treating incurable diseases and performing surgeries that require highly advanced skills, among many other healthcare services. She commented that the uninterrupted support provided by Emirates Health Services to meet all the hospital’s needs and to provide the necessary equipment in a very short time in order to provide distinguished healthcare services.

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