Saeed Al-Suraihi

Okaz

The Ministry of Health had announced that it would adopt a number of initiatives through partnership with concerned organizations this year to reduce the rising cases of hypertension in the Kingdom.



The ministry said high blood pressure is responsible for the death of about 7.5 million people around the world every year, which means about 12 percent of the total number of deaths. This is in addition to blindness and kidney failure the condition usually causes.



The ministry and its partners will not succeed in their attempt to reduce the cases of high blood pressure unless they come to know the complete reasons that lead to this fatal condition. They will not succeed if they continue to blame the bad eating habits and limit their initiatives to advice asking people to give attention to their weight, eat much fruit and vegetables, take as little salt as possible, stop smoking and start exercising. Any health center or medical practitioner can give such advice, which does not need initiatives or partnerships with other organizations.



The Health Ministry should be aware of the things that cause high blood pressure among citizens. This starts from the search for a job to sustain the Saudi citizen and preserve his dignity and honor. The country is providing jobs to foreigners coming from all four corners of the world but is unable to secure employment for its citizens.



The citizen gets hypertension when he realizes that he will not succeed even if he spends his entire life saving money to buy a piece of land for building a house.



It is not surprising that high blood pressure is sweeping citizens when they realize that no one will be able to control the rising prices of commodities and when they see the artificial goods dumping the market with nobody to check them out.



The citizen will sure become a hypertension patient when he listens to government officials speaking about mega projects but sees none materializing on the ground.



It is not surprising that a citizen may die of high blood pressure if he has to wait for a month to see a doctor in a government hospital. If he decides to go to a private hospital, he will definitely spend his whole salary for the month.



The Health Ministry should realize that it is not salt alone that is responsible for high blood pressure and that its resources alone are not enough to curb the chronic medical condition.