QC Distributes 8 Ambulances to Hospitals inside Syria

Mr. Ibrahim Ali Abdullah, QC’s Director of Relief Department, said, “This project helps save the lives of so many injured and the lives of patients suffering from critical conditions. The ambulances are to provide first aid and to transport the patients to nearby hospitals. However, Syria is suffering from the lack of first aid services, primary health care, and surgeries. The infrastructure of the health field is falling apart! There is also a huge shortage in medical supplies, and medications inside Syria.”

QC distributed ambulances (Hyundai closed Van) to the field hospitals, and charity aid stations in many governorates. It distributed two vans to Al-Ghab plain in Hama’s countryside, two to Aleppo and its countryside, two to Idleb and its countryside, one to Jisr Al-Shughur, and one to the countryside of Lattakia. The project was implemented at a cost of 300,000 QR.

2,000 Benefiting Families:

In the same time QC implemented this project, along with other water and formation relief projects, it sprayed with pesticides a number of the Syrian refugee camps in Arsal, along the Lebanon-Syria border. It was after the temperature rose above its natural average and after the increase of insects’ bites due to the opening of manholes and their exposure to air near the camps. The project was implemented to avoid any diseases which could turn to epidemics because the refugees do not regularly check the manholes. 

This initiative was carried out by QC and its associate Union of Relief and Development Associations in Lebanon. 19 camps (13 in Arsal and 6 nearby ones), where almost 2,000 families live, benefited from this project. The pesticides were sprayed on the manholes, where insects and reptiles were concentrated and where garbage was stationed. The results of this initiative were very satisfactory. 

QC pays great attention to the relief of the Syrian people, whether the displaced inside or the refugees outside. 4,200,000 people benefited from QC’s projects which were implemented from April 2011 until last January (2015) at a cost of 205,000,000 QR. Since the beginning of the Syrian crisis, QC’s projects included different fields: education, health, food, and shelter. 59% of these aids were sent to inside Syria at a cost of 121,200,000 QR, while the remaining percentage was sent to the refugees in the neighboring countries. 13% of the aids (i.e. 26,889,000 QR) were sent to Jordan, 17% (i.e. 34,660,000 QR) were sent to Lebanon, 9% (i.e. 19,000,000 QR were sent to Turkey, and 2% (i.e. 3,293,000 QR) were sent to Iraq and other places where Syrians took refuge.

Earlier Projects

QC implemented a number of development and relief projects to the Syrian refugees in Lebanon and inside Syria at a cost of 14,000,000 QR (around 3,900,000 USD).

Such as l’nodamed Al-Jerah (Let’s Treat our Wounds) project: the project cost 355,000 USD, and aimed at helping support field hospitals inside Syria, Damascus countryside in specific.

Al-Sondoq Al-Tebbi (the Medical Box) project: it cost 1,200,000 USD and covered all the Lebanese territories. It sponsors the patients’ and injured surgeries whether partly or fully.

Lamset Shifa’ (Healing Touch) project: This project cost 130,000 USD. It sponsored Akkar Health Center in Al-Abda which receives the injured from inside Syria living by the Lebanese border, or living in Lebanon.

Kafalat Al-Jarha (The Injured Sponsorship) project in 24 Health Center: It was implemented in Tripoli at a cost of 190,000 USD.

The Support of the Injured and Affected project: this project was implemented in Beirut, Akkar, Tripoli, Aramoun, and Bechamoun at a cost of 250,000 USD. It and equipped and operated ambulance stations in 5 areas. It included the paramedics, ambulances, and medical devices and essentials.

It is worth mentioning that by the end of last year, QC signed a strategic, universal partnership with International Medical Corps and Qatar Foundation International. This would help amplify their capabilities to reach all the territories, worldwide, which most need aid. It would specially help the conflict-affected people in Syria, and offer health care to the displaced Syrian children who have been striving to save their lives. They strive to live because there aren’t any ordinary services available, nor is there any health care provided. In addition, the residential areas are crowded with people due to the displacement of many, and due to the damages which happened to drinking water infrastructure and the sewage system. 

• Providing medical consultations and free medicines for 2,000 registered patients
• Distributing more than 400 free eyeglasses to the workers
• Naji Abd ar-Rab Al Aji: "The health camp represents an excellent example for the officials' cooperation in order to reinforce the feeling of social responsibility".

Friends Cultural Center, one of QC's Developmental Centers, and the Indian Doctors Club at Tariq bin Ziad School for Boys organized the thirteenth Health Charity Camp for the Asian communities residing in Qatar. More than 4,500 people benefited from this camp. It was held under the auspices of the Supreme Council of Health, Primary Health Care Corporation, and Hamad Medical Corporation; and was sponsored by Ooredoo.

125 doctors, more than 250 medical assistants, nurses and technicians, and hundreds of volunteers participated in the camp.

The inauguration Committee included Ms. Fatima Al Kuwairi, Ooredoo Director of Public Affairs and Community Services; Ms. Mariam Yassin Al Hamadi, Primary Healthcare Corporate Communication CEO; Major Ibrahim Al Samih, Drug Control Standing Committee General Secretary; Mr. Khalifa Al Yahri, Public Affairs Director Assistant at Hamad Medical Corporation; Dr. Samir Muban, Head of the Indian Doctors Club in Qatar; Mr. R. K Singh, Convoy President Deputy in the Indian Embassy in Doha; Dr. Mohammed Abdu ar-Rahman an-Nour, from the Supreme Council of Health; Dr. Mubashir Abu Bakr Abd Faraj, Head of the Department of Communicable Diseases Control Supreme Council of Health Deputy; Brigadier Hamed Al Yafie; Mr. Ali Al Gharib, Head of the Local Developmental Centers at QC; and Mr. Ayman Bikhairi, Deputy Headmaster at Tariq bin Ziad High School.

Mr. Al Aji commended the efforts of everyone who worked on making the camp successful and emphasized the importance of providing healthcare to everyone. “It is an extraordinary activity. We thank the Social Affairs Ministry for its support to such humanitarian events. These kinds of activities are a good sign for achieving the goals of Qatar 2030 vision,” said he.

For his part, Mr. Abdul Nasser Al Zahr Al Yafie, QC’s Local Development CEO, said, “Holding this camp is part of QC’s effective communication with the communities residing in Qatar. It is one of so many other ways to guarantee public health.”

Awareness Lectures

This time’s health camp was entitled “From Farm to Plate: Food Is Healthier”. The camp provided all the necessary facilitations for diagnosis and examination. Furthermore, it raised the visitors’ awareness through holding awareness sessions. Mainly, the targeted category was the Asian communities in order to emphasize the importance of eating healthy food that is free from harmful components. The camp also stressed the importance of mental health, and commitment to a good lifestyle which includes exercise. The communities should benefit from the healthcare services provided by the country where they reside, as well.  

2,000 registered people with low income from different Asian nationalities benefited from the project. They underwent medical tests for blood pressure, blood sugar, Cholesterol, and oral cancer. Plus, their eyes were examined. They had a electromyogram and were examined via ultrasound. They received free medications for general diseases as prescribed by doctors. In addition, more than 400 eyeglasses were distributed for free. 

During the camp, hundreds of men and women benefited from the awareness lectures which were delivered by medical specialists. They spoke about different topics such as Sunshine Vitamin: the Truth Vs the Myth, Diseases Resulting from Wrong Lifestyle, Dangers of Diabetes, Mental Health, and Women’s Daily Healthcare.

Director of the QC Office in Gaza: Aid includes "Helping poor patients with covering the cost of conducting the surgery, staying overnight at the hospitals, laboratory tests and medicine.

The Qatar Charity Office in the Gaza Strip helped perform surgeries for 600 poor patients during 2017 under the the Poor Patient Assistance Project, which was implemented in cooperation with six private hospitals in the various governorates of the Gaza Strip.

Laboratory Tests and Medicine

The cost of these operations conducted with the support of philanthropists in Qatar, amounted to QR2.8 million, covering or contributing to the cost of the entire operations for poor patients at health centers and non-governmental hospitals.

Eng. Mohammed Abu Halub, Director of the QC office in the Gaza Strip said that the project also covers the cost of some medicines, laboratory and diagnostic tests, which cannot be afforded by some patients, in addition to providing financial coverage for performing the surgery and staying overnight at hospitals, stressing that the proportion of the QC contributions ranges from 30% to 100%, depending on the patient's conditions.

Abu Halub said that the idea of the project is to support patients who need surgery that cannot be implemented in government hospitals because of the long lists of waiting patients.

Partnerships in the Field of Health

He pointed out that the Poor Patient Project aims to help the poor overcome the disease he is suffering from and to alleviate his economic burden, in addition to maintaining physical health and protecting human being, as well as working on supporting health services provided by the private health institutions.

Healing Smile

"We thank Qatar Charity for its efforts to support and care for the poor patients," said Dr. Saeed Al Shaer, Director of Dar Al Salam Hospital, one of the partner private hospitals, stressing that the project managed to bring the smile back to lips of the poor patients.

"We hope that the size of the benefit of this project will expand and a larger segment of patients will take advantage of it, especially as it is not a secret that in the Gaza Strip, more than a quarter of one million populations is unemployed and they do not have any sources of income" Al Shaer added.

The QC Office in the Gaza Strip, under the framework of its health project, has recently contributed to improving the surgical services at the Indonesian hospital in the Gaza Strip, by providing Harmonic Scalpel, a surgical instrument, in collaboration with the Palestinian Ministry of Health.

About 350,000 people benefit from services provided under the project. The lack of the laparoscopic instrument has led to increase waiting lists of patients to receive health services, thus putting them at risk of complications and deterioration of their conditions.