DHAKA: When poor eyesight forced Motiur Rahman to abandon his pulled rickshaw, there seemed to be no hope that he would find another livelihood until last month, when Saudi doctors treated his cataract and gave him a new lease on life. Rahman, 62, was one of hundreds of people who underwent eye surgery when ophthalmologists from the Kingdom arrived in the Chapainawabganj
‘I could live anywhere in the world I choose to stay in Saudi Arabia,’ says Abdurahman Afia
The reality is Saudi Arabia has one of the largest numbers of female entrepreneurs in the world and an incredible number of Saudi ladies now graduate from university
Updated 54 min 43 sec ago
SALEH FAREED
May 24, 2021 23:05
JEDDAH: A British expatriate who has lived in Saudi Arabia for more than two decades is showcasing the changing face of the country to hundreds of thousands of followers around the world and dispelling some of the misconceptions about life in the Kingdom
Abdurahman Afia was born and grew up in London. He moved to Saudi Arabia with his wife, Khadija, in 2000, and their four children 26-year-old Abdullah, 24-year-old Abdurahman, 20-year-olds Anas and Aisha were raised there.
DUBAI: Saudi doctors and volunteers are expected to play a key role in a newly launched initiative to allow health professionals in Yemen, Bangladesh, Sudan, Nigeria and Pakistan to intervene quickly to save people’s vision.
The initiative, the result of a partnership between the King Salman Humanitarian Aid and Relief Center (KSrelief) and Al-Basar International Foundation, envisages 41 medical campaigns, during which an estimated 205,000 examinations will be conducted, 16,400 operations will be carried out, and 41,000 medical glasses will be distributed.
The 262,400 individuals expected to benefit from this initiative are among the estimated 2.2 billion people worldwide affected by blindness or vision impairment, according to World Health Organization (WHO) data. The WHO figure includes an estimated one billion that have a preventable vision impairment or one that has yet to be addressed.
By Haruna Mohammed SALISU & Kamal IDRIS
MAKKAH Eye Specialist Hospital Bauchi, owned by Saudi Arabia-based Albasar International Foundation, was established in 2009 as a non-profit social service outfit providing treatment to patients with visual impairment and other eye problems, supposedly at affordable prices based on the vision of the hospital.
The Vision of the organization as captured on its website among other things is “to provide therapeutic preventative and educational programs to manage blindness and visual impairment in developing countries on a regional and international scale through non-profit social services to help the less privileged”.
However, a two-month investigation by WikkiTimes reveals that the hospital has deviated from its creed of affordable healthcare, and is now charging clients three times the amount in similar private institutions. There are also allegations of maltreatment of patients seeking medical help and systematic disengagement of indigeno