An Emirati team of medical volunteers have provided medical treatment for thousands of children in Asia as part of the "Zayed Giving" initiative, with the participation of senior doctors, nurses, and volunteers from leading university hospitals around the world.
Dr. Shamsa Al Owr, Executive Director of the Initiative of Doctors of Poor, said that the volunteer medical teams are comprised of senior paediatricians, cardiologists and general practitioners who are working in villages across Asia to help underprivileged children through therapeutic and preventative programmes.
The Zayed Giving initiative comes within the framework of the Campaign to Cure One Million Children and Elderly People around the world, and has so far reached around 10,000 children in Indonesia, India and Pakistan.
Dr. Al Owr said, "The teams focused on providing treatment to underprivileged children requiring medical attention, including children with congenital deformities and those requiring surgical intervention." Al Owr went on to say that Emirati medical personnel were also part of the initiative, which is, she explained, a prominent example of the spirit of volunteerism in the U.A.E., supported by the U.A.E. government and its people under the leadership of President His Highness Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan, and with the follow-up of Vice President and Prime Minister and Ruler of Dubai, His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, and in implementation of the vision of His Highness General Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi and Deputy Supreme Commander of the U.A.E. Armed Forces.
Dr. Abdullah Shihab, Cardiology Consultant, and one of the U.A.E. volunteers in the programme, said that in its next phase, the initiative will step up the prevention services it provides by introducing new technology that will help early detection of disease, and double the number of volunteer programmes to reach more people around the globe through four diagnostic, therapeutic, preventive and training teams.