120 operations performed in two days

The Jeddah Eye Hospital has been conducting a special drive to carry out mass-scale eye surgeries during weekends to reduce the waiting list for such operations.
“We performed 60 operations on Friday and another 60 on Saturday,” Dr. Salem Bahattab, the hospital’s director, told Arab News. “Our hospital has set up seven temporary operation theaters in which to carry out these surgeries with the participation of more than 90 doctors.”
He said that this is the second such drive within a month. The hospital had earlier conducted 60 surgeries in a single day and has pledged to take up such initiatives in the future to expedite ophthalmic operations for patients in need.
Doctors tested the patients a day before the surgery, he said.
Doctors from the Asir and Madinah regions also participated in the drive.
“Health Minister Dr. Abdullah Al-Rabeeah and Deputy Health Minister Mansour Al-Hawasi congratulate the team of volunteer doctors,” said Sami Badawood, director-general of Jeddah’s Health Affairs.
Badawood had formally inaugurated the drive on Friday at the hospital and hailed the noble gesture of ophthalmologists who went without their weekend to serve patients.
Omar Al-Jasser, public relations director at the hospital, said “Badawood visited patients and interacted with them to follow up on their health and post surgical condition.”
The Jeddah Eye Hospital is the largest such hospital in the Western Province and one of the oldest hospitals in the city. The hospital was established in the 1950s. It has an exclusive 24-hour emergency ward for eye-related injuries.