Tag Archives: university
Rehabilitation of patients is important: Haya
Rehabilitation of patients is important: Haya Asma Ali Zain / 31 January 2014 Princess Haya says all the hard work on getting a patient over an acute injury is almost wasted if the patient is not rehabilitated and integrated back into society. A needs assessment should be conducted before establishing specialised centres in the country said Princess Haya bint Al Hussein, wife of His Highness Shaikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice-President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai. Princess Haya among the delegates at the Leaders Healthcare session at the Arab Health 2014 in Dubai on Thursday. — KT photos by Grace Guino She was addressing the session on Leaders Healthcare on the concluding day of Arab Health 2014, on Thursday. Princess Haya said healthcare professionals, doctors and nurses have become so much specialised in certain areas that they have neglected the basics of general care. “One of the areas most neglected is rehabilitation. Patients often receive excellent and acute care but limited rehabilitation … all that hardwork, getting a patient over an acute injury is almost wasted if the patient is not rehabilitated and integrated back into society where they can live a normal life and contribute to the country,” she added. “We have made significant advances in healthcare since last we met. The Al Jalila Foundation, a non-profit organisation launched in 2013, is mandating the UAE as a centre of excellence and research. Additionally, the groundwork for specialisation in healthcare has more than strategically paved by the new Insurance Law which comes into force in Dubai this year and will provide healthcare cover for all our residents,” she said. “We continue to produce standards of specialist nurses and soon will establish the University of Medicine and Health Sciences and the University Hospital at Dubai Healthcare City.” Also, this month, His Highness Shaikh Mohammed bin Rashid chaired a session to boost healthcare and education. They endorsed cancer and early detection programmes, a national database for all medical records and certain measures tackling obesity and encouraging a healthy lifestyle, she added. “Before we set up a system, we must understand the advantages and disadvantages of specialisation. So, how do we get better outcomes at reduced costs? First is by specialisation. By building speciality hospitals, healthcare workers are exposed to a large number of patients with the illness in question which otherwise will rarely be seen by these individuals. With the increased numbers of treatments comes the early recognition and signs and symptoms, institutions of treatment, better timed diagnostics and interventions for improved outcomes. “Furthermore by allowing physicians to share in efficiency gains through ownership, speciality hospitals may create more powerful incentives to achieve other costs and quality improvements. So how do we fare in the UAE with regard to specialist hospitals? Most hospitals in the region, especially in the UAE were established as general hospitals that have been changed for a particular specialty over time, she said in her speech. “In order to succeed, we must conduct a proper needs assessment for our population that will identify the most prevalent incidences of diseases among our population allowing us to concentrate on resources and establishing well designed, well-staffed and well-equipped specialised centres such as was the intention of the Al Jalila Speciality Hospital.” No project should be allowed without a detailed assessment so as not to waste our precious resources.” “We must realise that there will be diseases that are too rare for us to treat on our own. We will require local and at times international help to deliver the best possible care.” “We must not dilute our expertise by establishing competing facilities when the demand is low as this will reduce expertise.” Another challenge for our region is identifying how many specialised centres are required to serve our small populations, she added. “We must work together to limit sense expansion that dilutes our expertise.” asmaalizain@khaleejtimes.com For more news from Khaleej Times, follow us on Facebook at facebook.com/khaleejtimes , and on Twitter at @khaleejtimes Continue reading
Sharing The Risks And Costs Of Biomass Crops
October 30, 2013 Farmers who grow corn and soybeans can take advantage of government price support programs and crop insurance, but similar programs are not available for those who grow biomass crops such as Miscanthus. A University of Illinois study recommends a framework for contracts between growers and biorefineries to help spell out expectations for sustainability practices and designate who will assume the risks and costs associated with these new perennial energy crops. “The current biomass market operates more along the lines of a take-it-or-leave-it contract, but in order to encourage enhanced participation and promote a more sustainable, stable biomass supply, a new kind of contract needs to be created,” said Jody Endres, a University of Illinois professor of energy and environmental law. Endres said that a good contract gives everyone more certainty. “Incomplete contracts are the hazard,” she said. “We need to develop contracts that nail down all of the details and are transparent about who’s taking on the risk and who’s paying for it. If we get these considerations into the contracts, those who finance this new biomass crop industry will have more certainty to invest.” The study identifies considerations that should be included in the framework for a biomass contract, including a control for moral hazard, risk incentive tradeoff, existing agricultural practices, and risk and management tools to make the industry more sustainable financially and environmentally. Endres said that if biorefineries receive money in the form of carbon credits for reducing pollution, incentives for farmers should be included in contracts because they are the ones who are bearing the risks associated with sustainability practices. “Suppose a sustainability contract lists that the default should be integrated pest management rather than application of traditional pesticides,” Endres said. “The farmer takes on some risk to provide a sustainable product, but the biorefinery gets carbon credit for those sustainable practices. This should be worked into the contract—that if the farmer assumes the risk of IPM as opposed to traditional pesticide options, there has to be some sort of up-front payment or incentive in the contract to account for this risk. Due to the power relationships in this industry, the onus is on the biorefinery to be the leader in developing contracts in this new landscape.” The perennial nature of biomass crops also makes developing contracts challenging. “We’re in a unique environment, and traditional agricultural contracting structures just don’t apply,” Endres said. “Crop insurance is not currently available for farmers who grow biomass crops so they take on additional risk. Likewise, landowners see high prices for traditional commodity crops and do not want to be locked into a multi-year contract with a lessee to grow a perennial biomass crop. It’s complicated.” Endres said that although sustainability requirements are important, having an adequate supply of biomass is important as well. “We’re trying to envision a future in which we have a lot of biomass and one way to secure that is to recognize all of the risks and costs, especially when it comes to sustainability practices. It’s unique, and we do not yet have contracts for this aspect of the industry,” she said. A newly forming biomass standards group, in which Endres holds a leadership role, is looking at how the value of sustainability practices can be measured at the watershed, eco-shed or air-shed level rather than on the scale of individual farms. Endres said that the working group will examine how to ensure that balance is achieved between producers and consumers of biomass, including through contracts. “I’m optimistic that it can be done,” she said. “Growers and refiners right now are concerned with the industry being financially sound.” “There’s also a real need for education in both developed and underdeveloped countries about biomass contracting,” Endres said. “We’re trying to shift the paradigm from traditional agriculture to something that’s more sustainable–and that takes knowledge. If we don’t have that knowledge here in the United States and we’re trying to draft contracts in our very developed system, how is this going to be rolled out in say, Africa, or other areas where the use of production contracts are much more rare, especially in the small farm context?” Continue reading
US Farmland Price Growth Slowest Since 2010
21.10.2013 Growth in US farmland prices fell to its lowest in more than three years, sapped by weaker crop prices, which are prompting farmers to cut back on machinery purchases too. A farmland price index compiled by Nebraska-based Creighton University fell to 50.9 this month, the lowest reading since January 2010. The figure, down from 54.0 in September, was only just above the 50.0 level which indicates no growth at all, with figures below that meaning falling prices, and comes as the market enters its key autumn sales period. Prices are already falling in some major agricultural states, including Illinois, Kansas, Nebraska and North Dakota, which suffered a particularly steep decline in its farmland market. However, values are still rising – albeit at relatively slow rates – in the likes of Missouri and Iowa, the top corn and soybean producing state, where 80 acres of land sold last week for $17,600 an acre, which Hardin County Savings Bank claims is a record. ‘Major impact’ Ernie Goss, the Creighton economist behind the survey, attributed the market’s deceleration to “weaker agriculture commodity prices”, with “poor weather” contributing to fall-offs in states such as North and South Dakota, where early snowfalls are viewed “likely to spill over into the broader economies”. Todd Douglas, chief executive of a South Dakota bank, said that the “record snowfall in the western part of the state is estimated to have caused up to 25,000 cattle deaths which will have a major impact on producers in the areas hit hardest by the storm”. The pullback in agriculture sector prosperity was also evident in an index figure for agriculture machinery which came in at 44.6, its lowest since March 2010, and indicating market shrinkage. “[Machinery] sales are declining and inventories are growing as farmers pull back on their purchases of big ticket items,” Professor Goss said. ‘Much slower pace’ Professor Goss forecast continued softness in the farmland market compared with 2011 and 2012, when annual price growth reached 20-30%. “Clearly, farmland price growth and cash rent expansions in the months ahead will not be as healthy as has been experienced in the past couple of years,” he said. Indeed, bankers questioned by the university forecast rises of 2.5% in farmland cash rents over the next 12 months, down from an expectation of 9.3% when surveyed six months ago. “Bankers clearly expect farmland prices and rents to grow at a much slower pace over the next year,” he said. agrimoney Continue reading
