Speaking on the occasion of the World Health Day on Thursday, IIROSA Secretary-General Adnan Khalil Basha said the Saudi relief organization's current fixed health projects number 32, comprising hospitals, health centers, dispensaries, clinics and pharmacies while there are 24 temporary projects and programs consisting of medical caravans, mobile clinics, surgical camps, awareness and environmental health programs benefiting more than 24 million patients.
The World Health Day is this year being celebrated under the slogan: “Antimicrobial Resistance: No Action Today, No Cure Tomorrow.”
Basha said the health projects implemented by IIROSA covered countries in Asia, Africa, Europe and South America. “The organization coordinated with a number of international organizations, such as the World Health Organization, to carry out health programs in favor of the poor and needy patients without any distinction as to gender, color or creed,” he added.
Enumerating the types of health services being provided by IIROSA, Basha said they consisted of treating the poor and needy free of charge; child and mother care; maternity care and children's vaccinations to children; free distribution of medicines; various medical checkups and screenings; and emergency care.
Basha pointed out that IIROSA has conducted heart surgeries and catheter operations for poor and needy children in a number of Arab and Islamic countries, including Yemen, Egypt, Syria, Morocco, Pakistan and Kazakhstan, with the help of volunteering Saudi specialists and consultants.
“More than 400 children who are unable to bear the high costs of such operations have benefited from IIROSA's services in this field. The organization has also examined more than 783 sick children,” he added.
The secretary-general pointed out that within its efforts to fight blindness, the IIROSA organized four campaigns for optical surgeries and eyesight corrections in a number of countries, including Indonesia, Sri Lanka, Nigeria and Burkina Faso.
On the domestic level, the organization extended relief assistance to the victims of flash floods and torrential rains in Jeddah in November 2009. It set up medical clinics in a number of hard-hit areas with the help of volunteering Saudi doctors. It extended medical equipment and medicines to a number of hospitals in Jeddah, including the General Eye Hospital, King Saud Hospital and the TB Center. It also provided the Health Welfare Society in Makkah with 32,000 kg of various medicines.
According to Basha, IIROSA contributed more than SR5 million to partly cover the costs of heart, kidney, liver and eye operations to 1,378 patients in various regions of the Kingdom. “Through agreements with a number of hospitals and pharmacies, the organization provides treatment and medicines to a number of poor and needy patients, especially the disabled,” Basha said.
He announced that IIROSA will implement a program to combat blindness in three regions in the Kingdom during which it will conduct 1,500 eye operations. He said it will also organize medical campaigns in other regions to cure more than 9,000 patients.
