Doha: Qatar Red Crescent Society (QRCS) recently concluded its eye surgery and anti-blindness medical convoy mission, carried out at De Martino Public Hospital in Mogadishu, Somalia.
At a total cost of $85,535 (QR311,776), the project was coordinated with Somalia’s Federal Ministry of Health, the Somali Red Crescent Society (SRCS), and the Embassy of Qatar in Somalia.
The 17-day project was aimed at providing medical assistance for poor and displaced people with eye diseases in the Banaadir region, with a special focus on people with special needs and those living at camps in Mogadishu and surrounding areas.
It involved clinical examinations for 502 patients at the outpatient clinic, and eye diseases were diagnosed through fundus examination, optometry, tonometry, focal length, and ocular ultrasound.
While other patients received prescriptions, 82 patients were identified as requiring surgical interventions, including 43 major cataract surgeries, 29 medium surgeries, and 10 minor surgeries.
In addition, 226 lab examinations were conducted, 400 prescriptions were given to outpatients, 223 reading glasses were distributed to +40-year-old patients, 82 prescriptions and 27 sunglasses were given to patients who underwent major and medium eye surgeries, the operating room was rehabilitated, and five local medical professionals were trained.
The medical team comprised an ophthalmologist, an anaesthesiologist, and a nurse from Sudan.
Nasser bin Ali Al Kaabi, Deputy Ambassador of Qatar to Somalia, visited QRCS’s representation office in Sudan. He praised QRCS’s role in the field of health in Somalia, as well as its significant projects to serve a large segment of Somali society.
The Federal Ministry of Health held a dinner party to honour QRCS’s personnel, in the presence of Dr. Maryan Maxamud, Somalia’s Miniser of Health, the Director of De Martino Public Hospital, programmes manager and health coordinator at QRCS’s representation office, and members of the Sudanese medical team.
Somalia is one of the countries that have shortages in some health areas, especially eye treatment and surgery. Due to the high cost of treatment services, the poor and displaced people resort to unreliable traditional medicine.
According to a World Health Organization’s (WHO) report, the eye disease rates among men and women are 52% and 48%, respectively. The total blindness rate among the Somali population is 9.8%.
Source: The Peninsula
