JEDDAH: The International Islamic Relief Organization Saudi Arabia (IIROSA) has established about 56 health projects in 17 countries in Europe, Asia and Africa providing health-care services to about 500,000 patients, according to IIROSA Secretary-General Dr. Adnan Khalil Basha.
"Health services are considered an integral part of the relief work. The presence of these services is an extreme necessity among victims of natural disasters, civil wars, sectarian conflicts and other crises. Such predicaments often breed a large number of injured, let alone the refugees and displaced children, women and old men who are amassing at refugee camps and who need medical care," he said.
Basha said that since its inception, IIROSA has established, operated and supported a number of hospitals, health centers and clinics in many developing countries. The organization has also extended its health and medical services to areas that have become havens for endemic and epidemic diseases as a result of rains, floods and cyclones, he added.
Basha said in addition to establishing and running hospitals and health centers, the organization also dispatches health caravans, sets up vaccination centers and helps in fighting chronic diseases, such as malaria, bilharzias, typhoid and cholera.
The secretary-general said the IIROSA also carried out surgical operations for infants and children in a number of countries, including Egypt, Syria, Morocco, Yemen and Pakistan. The organization has sponsored teams of cardiologists and nurses who have gone to these countries and conducted the operations there on infants and children aged between three months and two years.
"We feel committed to save these children and ensure them with good health," said Basha.
IIROSA also sent out medical caravans consisting of medical doctors and nurses to a number of countries to provide medical services to the poor and needy patients. It has dispatched two medical caravans to northwest Pakistan where more than 4,000 patients were treated.
"The organization also supplied patients with special needs with wheelchairs, bath chairs, diapers, sticks and other miscellaneous medical equipment," Basha said.
The secretary-general said IIROSA has signed an agreement with the World Health Organization (WHO) to carry out a number of health and medicinal projects in some areas in Africa and Asia which suffer from endemic diseases. "Under the agreement, the two organizations will cooperate and coordinate to find new medical means and mechanisms to obliterate endemic diseases from the remote and poor areas," he said.
Basha also said the two organizations are cooperating in studies and research works to fight endemic diseases such as malaria and polio and also to upgrade the level of health awareness among communities.
The secretary-general added IIROSA is providing medical treatment to a number of heart, kidney and cancer patients in Saudi Arabia and providing them with the required medicines.
"We have concluded agreements with a number of hospitals and clinics in the Kingdom to treat many patients at the expense of the organization," he explained. "We consider the provision of health and medical care to poor and needy patients all over the world regardless of race, color or creed an integral part of our relief and humanitarian work."
© Arab News 2010
