ID :
345061
Sun, 10/19/2014 - 21:32
Auther :

QRC Medical Mission to Conduct Cardiac Catheterization for Mauritanian Children

Doha, October 19 (QNA) - Qatar Red Crescent (QRC) sent a medical team to Mauritania to perform cardiac catheterizations for children with heart diseases who cannot find local treatment and whose families cannot afford their treatment abroad. The mission is accompanied by a media team from Al-Rayyan Satellite Channel for firsthand documentation and coverage. Over one week, the mission will prepare, perform, and follow up on the operations, which will take place at the National Center of Cardiology, Nouakchott, Mauritania, with an estimated budget of nearly QR 700,000. On average, the project will serve 36 children aged between two months and 16 years, including 17 boys and 19 girls. QRC's medical mission comprises Dr. Mohamed Tawfik Noaman, Pediatric Cardiology Consultant, Dr. Mahmoud Al-Soufi, Pediatric Cardiology Consultant, and Abdullah Ashkenani, Senior Cardiovascular Technician, Hamad Medical Corporation (HMC). They will be assisted by a Mauritanian anesthetist as well as physicians, assistants, and nurses. Ahmed Al-Khulaifi, Head of QRC Public Relations and head of the mission, said, "The QRC annual cardiac catheterization project began in 2004 and is financed primarily from the revenue of the Ramadan fundraising campaign. It targets families that cannot afford the costs of treatment or traveling abroad. Some countries even lack domestic treatment capabilities. We are contemplating other countries, such as Djibouti, Yemen, Niger, and others." "The operations are aimed at treating different heart congenital disorders and diseases among poor children, such as holes in the heart, defective heart valves, etc. They are cardiac catheterizations, not surgical operations like open heart surgeries," he added. According to Al-Khulaifi, the mission was originally scheduled for last June, but due to coordination inconveniences, it was delayed to this week. "In 2011, this very team performed cardiac operations at the same center, and it is my honor to be with them today as a head of mission," he noted. Regarding cooperation with HMC, Al-Khulaifi pointed out, "We purchased some of the medical material needed for the mission from HMC. They also allowed their senior cardiovascular technician, Ashkenani, to join the team. Also, both Dr. Noaman and Dr. Al-Soufi worked for HMC before moving to the United States and the United Arab Emirates, respectively. All the three have been QRC volunteers with this project since 2004, and they have already traveled on several missions annually, and sometimes twice a year, to Sudan, Morocco, Mauritania, Gaza, Syria, and Lebanon." QRC has several major developmental projects in Mauritania, particularly in water and sanitation and health care. These projects include digging six water wells for 1,770 beneficiaries in six villages of Keur-Macene, at a total cost of QR 81,500. Another project involved digging and rehabilitating six artisan wells; installing generators, pumps, tanks, pipelines, and a distribution system; digging six surface wells; repairing water canals and basins; and building sanitary toilets for the benefit of 2,500 families (15,000 people) in Boutilimit, Rkiz, and Monguel, at a total cost of QR 913,260. In addition, QRC participated in the relief efforts for Malian refugees in Mauritania, at a total cost of QR 1,852,280, by providing food, sheltering, education, and health care for orphans and poor children; constructing artisan wells; extending water canals to irrigate vegetable farms; and launching an annual health campaign to prevent malaria and cold in the winter. The biggest QRC project in Mauritania is the operation and development of Hamad bin Khalifa Hospital in Boutilimit. The purpose of this project is to improve the health sector in the country by offering high-quality medical services, building capacity for health workers through training courses in and outside of Mauritania, upgrading and expanding the scope of services to encompass more medical specialties and modern medical equipment, and running medical campaigns to provide health care in rural regions around Boutilimit. This project is a joint partnership with Qatari-Mauritanian Social Development Foundation and Mauritanian Ministry of Health, with an overall budget of QR 13,223,300 in 2013-2014. (QNA)

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