CHAIRMAN: DR. KHALID BIN THANI AL THANI
EDITOR-IN-CHIEF: DR. KHALID MUBARAK AL-SHAFI

Qatar

QRCS medical convoy to treat eye diseases in Sudan

Published: 10 Nov 2018 - 05:36 am | Last Updated: 17 Nov 2021 - 11:30 am

The Peninsula

DOHA: Qatar Red Crescent Society (QRCS) has sent a medical convoy to Sudan, on a medical mission of treating 4,000 patients and performing 500 cataract surgeries in El Obeid, the state of North Kurdufan.The project is implemented in partnership with Hamad Medical Corporation (HMC), the Sudanese Red Crescent Society, the Ministry of Health’s provincial office, and the National Health Insurance Fund.

Over seven days, a group of physicians from Qatar will examine the patients, prescribe medications and eyeglasses for them, and perform cataract surgeries. “This project is one of a series of medical convoys to be sent to Sudan, one for treatment of South Sudan refugees in the state of White Nile late this year, and another to treat orofacial cleft and urinary fistula in the state of South Darfur early next year,” said Ahmed A Al Khulaifi, head of mission.

“This and other medical convoys have been possible only with the support from the benevolent people of Qatar, who greatly contribute to QRCS’s humanitarian activities. We hope this trend will continue, in order for us to help more and more needy people.

“Over the past few years, we have made remarkable achievements in Sudan. Our track record there includes health care, water and sanitation, education, food security, livelihood, emergency relief, and social harmony projects. In all those portfolios, we work together with, and are supported by, a wide range of Qatari institutions, local authorities and organizations of Sudan, and international and UN agencies. By virtue of the concerted efforts, more than 890,000 lives have been improved.

“Through our representation office in Sudan, several projects are in progress, with funding from Qatar Fund for Development (QFFD). These include the construction of services complexes and solar-powered water stations, development and rehabilitation of health facilities, support of voluntary return villages, and control of communication diseases. By all of this, we aim to establish reconstruction, stability, and peace under the umbrella of the Doha Document for Peace in Darfur (DDPD),” Al-Khulaifi concluded. Since 2002, QRCS has sent many eye treatment convoys, supported departments of ophthalmology at hospitals, and conducted schoolchildren eye disease surveys in 10 countries: Sudan, Pakistan, Eritrea, Somalia, Djibouti, Lebanon, Palestine, Niger, Ethiopia, and Bangladesh. Overall, some 1,072,500 poor patients benefited from medical examinations, optical aids, eye surgeries, and medicines.