A medical caravan of Saudi Arabian surgeons is in the country to offer surgical assistance.
The medical committee of Wamy in cooperation with Al ehsan and Al bir trust is in the country with the aim of offering free surgical services to individuals in need of general surgical assistance.
According to the medical leader of the caravan Dr. Abdullah Shbeer, there are two medical teams, one based at Balaka district hospital and the other one at Mangochi district hospital.
Dr.Shbeer has urged all individuals who may need general surgical help to go to their nearest hospitals in the two mentioned districts for assistance.
He further said that the initiative has been going on for four consecutive years in the two districts of Balaka and Mangochi but plans are underway to extend the same program to other districts in the country.
The team leader said the program is a gesture from the people of Saudi Arabia and it is targeting people from all walks of life regardless of social status or religious affiliation.
“Well, some people may link this program to Islamic religion, but I want to emphasize that the program has nothing to do with Islamic faith. We are only doing this in the interest of humanity,” he stressed.
At the time of publication of this article, the team had registered 20 patients requiring operations and 15 had already been attended to.
Dr.Shbeer was excited with the turn up and he was optimistic that the statistics of beneficiaries will increase as they go along.
Speaking on behalf of Balaka district hospital, assistant environmental health officer Patrick Bonongwe said the hospital stands to benefit a lot as some patients who were supposed to be referred to major central hospitals will be attended right at the district hospital hence acting as a cost cutting measure.
However, Bonongwe attributed the slow turn up of patients to the hospital to mobility challenges. He said people from distant places are finding it difficult to access the district hospital on time.
“Our role as a hospital is to provide information to the communities so that they are aware of what is happening at the hospital. We are not accountable for meeting transportation costs of patients, ” he said.
The two medical teams will be at the hospitals for a period of ten days.
