“The risk factor screening campaign gave us the opportunity to interact with the workers from diverse background, perfect our communication skills, and gain a deeper understanding of the problems faced by the labour community who are particularly at-risk for the development of chronic conditions,” said an excited medical student on the side-lines of an health promotion event for the workers of the Global Food Industries, Sharjah, held on December 20, 2022 by GMU in collaboration with Thumbay University Hospital, Ajman.
The campaign was targeted for assessing the risk factors of the workers for development of various chronic conditions and for the presence of modifiable risk factors such as smoking, alcohol intake and exercise. Other factors such as the presence of any co-morbidities like cardiovascular diseases, respiratory problems, diabetes, obesity, family history of any conditions etc. was also screened. Measurement of BMI using height and weight, dental check-up, along with estimation of random blood sugar and blood pressure of the workers were also undertaken by a licensed general practitioner; and those who required further assessment were advised to visit Thumbay University Hospital, Ajman.
The workers, from a wide age-spectrum, were all males who were mostly engaged in different forms of manual labour. “This community engagement activity provided us with a chance to give back to the community and fulfil the social responsibility of the university as well as ourselves as medical students, thereby contributing to the health of the community”, concluded another medical student sounding accomplished.
“Community Engagement and Social Accountability form one of our core values and GMU provides plenty of opportunities to its students to fulfil this commitment”, said Prof. Manda Venkatramana, Vice Chancellor Academics & Dean, College of Medicine, GMU.
