training

Type of Training – Residency

Length of Training – 4-5 years, depending on institution (5 year residency at the Kuwait Institute for Medical Specialization)

Year Family Medicine established – 1983

Number of family medicine residents graduating each year – unknown

Number of institutions that offer family medicine – 2 (Kuwait Institute for Medical Specialization, and Kuwait University)

practice

Number of family doctors – 23 per 10,000 of population

Physician to population ratio (2005) – 153 per 100,000 of population.

DALY: 9,829 per 100,000 individuals (Due to all Causes).

Life Expectancy:

• Females 2017: 76.1 years

• Males 2017: 73.9 years

Mortality rate 2017:

• 2017 Males: 70 per 1,000 male adults.

• 2017 Females: 42 per 1,000 female adults.

Infant Immunization-HepB3: % of 1-year-old children received: 99%

College of Family Physicians (Y or N):

• Yes: Kuwait Society of Family Physicians and General Practitioners under the Kuwait Medical Association (Kuwait Medical Association, 2014).

training

In 1983, the Ministry of Health in Kuwait started the first family medicine program to provide training for family physicians (Abyad et al., 2007). However, it was not until 1987 that the University of Kuwait recognized family medicine as a formal postgraduate program at the medical school (Abyad et al., 2007). In 1991, the first examination and degree certificate was given that was equivalent to the system in UK (Abyad et al., 2007). In 2005, the Kuwait Board of Family Medicine Exam received the MRCGP (INT) accreditation ("Family Medicine Residency Program Trainers’ & Residents’ Guide to the Curriculum.", n.d.). There is a 4-year residency program, which offers both supervised learning opportunities and clinical experience in the hospital and in family practice (Abyad et al., 2007). Trainees complete mandatory rotations in “general medicine; pediatrics; obstetrics and gynecology; psychiatry; dermatology; ear, nose, and throat; general surgery; ophthalmology; orthopedics; and casualty and emergency medicine.” (Abyad et al., 2007). There are two universities that offer family medicine residency: Kuwait Institute for Medical Specialization, ("Family Medicine Residency Program Trainers’ & Residents’ Guide to the Curriculum," n.d.), and Kuwait University (Faculty of Medicine, 2018).

The Kuwait Institute for Medical Specialization extended the family medicine training program to 5 years starting in 2010 ("Family Medicine Residency Program Trainers’ & Residents’ Guide to the Curriculum.", n.d.). The institutions aims to train family medicine residents capable of delivering comprehensive healthcare to everyone and focus on teamwork alongside other healthcare professionals as core values of the residency program. ("Family Medicine Residency Program Trainers’ & Residents’ Guide to the Curriculum." n.d.). More information needs to be gathered to understand if this exists in family medicine practice as well.

There is a Kuwait Society of Family Physicians and General Practitioners under the Kuwait Medical Association (Kuwait Medical Association, 2014).

practice

As of 2005, the physician to population ratio is 1.53 (physician per 1000 population) (Abyad et al., 2007).

As of 1996, 10-15 percent of the physicians working within primary care are family physicians (Abyad, 1996). As of 2002, 26% (152 of 584) of the medical graduates enter family medicine, while 77% of the foreign medical graduates practice in other countries of the Middle East (Abyad et al., 2007). Family physicians provide a huge range of comprehensive, high quality medical care (Abyad, 1996). As of 2011, the number of physicians increased to 23/10,000 (Lakha et al., 2015).

The primary health centers offer polyclinic services (Lakha et al., 2015). Preliminary examinations and routine issues are dealt with at the primary health centers; when required, patients are referred to the specialist for free, when they come into the primary health center (Lakha et al., 2015).