King Khalid Eye Specialist Hospital (KKESH) and the Charitable Society for Patients Care (Elaji) have signed a community partnership agreement for conducting surgeries during off-duty hours. The agreement was signed at Elaji's headquarters in Riyadh today, in the presence of the Minister of Health Dr. Tawfiq Al-Rabiah, the Advisor at the Royal Court and Member of the Council of Senior Scholars, Sheikh Abdullah Al-Mutlaq and MOH's senior officials. The agreement provides for conducting around 1,000 surgeries including the retina, cornea, cataract, and the children's eyes and squint, during a period of one year.
Al-Rabiah said that his ministry supports the agreement and will provide all possible facilities to help both the KKESP and Elaji to implement its contents.
For his part Al-Mutlaq said, "With the help of the Almighty Allah, the agreement was signed between Elaji and KKESH, according to which the society will bear the costs of different eye surgeries in the hospital at a discounted rate and during the weekends and off-duty hours".
"We hope that the agreement will be of great benefit to those on the waiting list and ease the burden on the MOH, and that our brothers in the medical team can satisfy their love for charitable work through this agreement, May Allah bless us all with success. I would like also to thank the minister of health as one of the strongest supporters of the agreement and who, along with his deputy and senior officials have witnessed the signing of the agreement. Finally, we thank our wise government for supporting such charitable works, praying for Almighty Allah to protect our king and his deputies and make them victorious over their enemies".
For his part, Executive Director of KKESH, Dr. Abdulaziz Al-Rajhi said, "The cooperation agreement between KKESH and Elaji Society was under the directives of the health minister. The idea behind the agreement is that Elaji bears the costs of some surgeries in an endeavor to reduce the number of patients on the waiting list. The hospital doctors, medical and administrative teams will perform the surgeries during weekends or off-duty hours and the likes, with the aim of serving the patients on the waiting list and operate on them, hoping to clear the waiting list soon." He added that the agreement will be implemented within few days, Allah willing; pending completion of some administrative measures, praying for Almighty Allah it will be beneficial for all patients.
Secretary General of Elaji Society, Eng. Abdulaziz Al-Rawaf said the agreement will help reducing the waiting lists in the hospital, noting that about 1000 eye surgeries will be conducted including the retina, cornea, cataracts, in addition to squint and other children specialties. He added that the agreement will be of profound impact in the field of charitable medicine in the Kingdom and also comes to support the KKESH program, ease pressure on waiting lists, and alleviate the burden on patients who cannot pay the costs of treatment at other non-governmental hospitals.