Noor Dubai concludes eye camp in Togo

Dubai, 26 June 2012 (WAM) - The Noor Dubai Foundation successfully concluded an eye camp in Atakpame, the fifth largest city in Togo by population.

The camp that started on the 18th of June is the first of four camps supported by H.H. Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Presidential Affairs, UAE and H.H. Sheikha Manal bint Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, President of Dubai Women Establishment.

Sheikh Mansour and Sheikha Manal are supporting these four camps to celebrate the first anniversary of the birth of their son Sheikh Hamdan bin Mansour bin Zayed Al Nahyan.

On the occasion,Sheikha Manal said: " The significant number of people screened and treated in the camp tells us how important such health services are to the region. Noor Dubai was able to provide immediate health care services to those in need through the distribution of eye glasses, medication and performing sight saving surgery".

Sheikha Manal praised the efforts of the United Arab Emirates in the field of blindness prevention and added: " The gift of sight is precious, the decision to launch an initiative that supports the Noor Dubai Foundation?s activities comes from Sheikh Mansour's determination to alleviate the suffering of people who are in need of it, and to help them become active and productive members of their communities".

Qadhi Saeed Al Murooshid, Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the Noor Dubai Foundation, expressed his heartfelt appreciation to Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed Al Nahyan and Sheikha Manal bint Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum for launching the initiative to deliver support and assistance to others.

Al Murooshid explained that the generous support and patronage of Sheikh Mansour and Sheikha Manal has helped successfully support the eye camp in Togo and will have a significant impact on the Foundation's continued work in poverty-stricken areas of the world; preventing and treating blindness and visual disabilities in those patients who otherwise could not afford it.

Dr. Manal Taryam, CEO of the Noor Dubai Foundation explained that the foundation concluded last week the eye camp that delivered surgery, medication and eye glasses to those in need in the city of Atakpame in Togo.

Atakpame is 153 Km away from the Capital city Lome and is the 5th largest in Togo by population.

Dr. Taryam added that the eight day camp which was conducted by the support of HH. Sheikh Mansour and HH Sheikha Manal, screened 6893 people, distributed medication to 3000 patients, and eye glasses to 1150 people. The camp conducted 345 surgical procedures mainly to treat blindness caused by Cataract.

Dr Taryam said that the camp was hosted by a community health center that is functioning with few nurses and paramedics; there are no physicians in the health center and no one to perform any surgical treatment.

Statistically, there are 600,000 registered blind people in Togo and 40 per cent of them are blind due to Cataract, a blinding condition that is easily reversed by a simple 15 minutes surgical procedure.

Children in Togo and also victims of visual impairment due to refractive errors and lack of primary eye care.

Over all there are only eight ophthalmologists in Togo, one ophthalmologist for every 700,000 population.

Noor Dubai Foundation has started preparations for its next eye camp in Sri Lanka which will start on the 5th of July.