JEDDAH, 13 September 2005 — A “child friendly” ward for young cancer patients opened at the King Abdul Aziz Hospital in Jeddah yesterday. Financed entirely by the multinational medical giant Johnson & Johnson and operated under the direction of the Ministry of Health, the ward is equipped with state-of-the-art medical facilities.
Dr. Yasser ibn Saeed Al-Ghamdi, Jeddah health affairs general manager, officially opened the ward, as the “King Abdul Aziz Pediatric Oncology Center.”
The new center has been specially designed as a “child-friendly” environment, complete with TV channels and a huge play area with toys.
A major medical feature of the new unit is the 12 high-tech beds designed to cater for the special medical needs of the young patients. Facilities also exist which allow mothers to stay with their children.
Dr. Abdul Rahman ibn Abdullah Khayat, general supervisor of the hospital and its oncology center, said that the oncology center was one of the basic pillars of medicine protecting cancer patients. “This is the only center in the Kingdom that is under the Ministry of Health,” he said, adding that the center accepts between 750 and 1,000 new patients every year, 22 percent of whom are under 18.
Dr. Khayat highlighted the importance of the private sector participation in all kinds of community services, especially in the health sector.
Dr. Hassna Ali Al-Ghamdi, pediatric consultant and pediatric hematology oncology consultant and director of the oncology center, said the psychiatric health of a child was extremely important in therapy.
“An adult’s way of expressing suffering impinges negatively on children’s mental attitude and health. It was a strategic decision to divide children from adults, in many cases for as long as three months,” she said.
“Leukemia is one of the most common cancers among children — more among male than female — and even in its acute form, it can be treated. That’s our experience,” she said.
“As a foreign company that considers the Kingdom one of the prime markets in the region, we should do all that we can to help the individual and the society, especially in health, education and enhancing individual skills to seek a better future opportunity,” said M. Johannes Pattermann, managing director at the Dubai-based Johnson & Johnson (Middle East) Inc.
