Two clinics to treat headaches will soon be launched by the Dubai Health Authority (DHA). The multidisciplinary headache clinics that will include treating headaches through the use of botox will be opened in Nad Al Hamar Health Centre and Al Barsha Health Centre this month.

The launch of these headache clinics came after a notable demand from patients as the neurology department at the Rashid Hospital receives around 5,000 patients annually complaining from headaches.

Dr Manal Taryam, the CEO of primary health care (PHC) sector said the launch of the Headache Clinic is in line with the PHC's initiative to launch specialised clinics within health centres in Dubai to make sought-after specialisation more accessible and time efficient.

In order to launch these specialised centres the PHC has collaborated with doctors from the DHA hospitals to provide their services to customers at these specialised centres. "We have decided to first launch a headache clinic after we conducted a study and found that there is a high demand from patients. We are first going to launch a headache clinic in Nad Al Hamar Health Centre on July 17 and after that in two weeks, we will be launching a second headache centre in Al Barsha Health Centre," she said.

Dr Taryam said the centre will offer a one-stop-clinic for patients where they will be examined by a neurology consultant, a psychologist, physiotherapist and a family physician who is especially trained in neurology as studies have found that getting examined across these four specialities is the most effective way to treat headaches and migraines.

Dr Abu Baker Al Madani, the head of the neurology department at the Rashid Hospital explained that all studies have proven the importance of having a multidisciplinary team with different specialisations that include neurology, psychology, family medicine and physiotherapy in correctly diagnosing and treating headaches and migraines.

At the centre, the patients will also be able to get an x-ray and lab examinations and treatments, without having to go to the hospital. The headache clinic will also be providing new treatment methods such as botox injections, which have proven to have highly effective results to relief chronic headaches and migraines.

Dr Al Madani, explained that this treatment involves multiple injections around the head and neck every three months for a period of two years- to try to dull future headache symptoms. After that the patient is evaluated to see if more injections are needed. Al Madani said that this botox treatment is not the only new method of treatment available at the clinic as there are other medication and treatment methods available at the centre to meet every patient's case.

Source: Khaleej Times