King Salman Humanitarian Aid and Relief Center (KSRelief) and the Saudi Ministry of Health, in coordination with the Gulf Coordination Council to support Yemen, have been discussing the allocation of 1,000 treatment grants for Yemeni citizens abroad, said an official in the Yemeni Ministry of Public Health.
Medical Attache of Yemen Embassy in Riyadh Dr. Mohammed al-Saadi told Asharq Al-Awsat that the three parties have been discussing implementing this project in countries such as India, where the country would be responsible to treat Yemeni residents.
“Kuwait has approved the treatment of 200 cases, Saudi Arabia is expected to take care of 400 cases and the rest of the countries are on the final stages of the adoption of these grants.”
In this context, Saadi said that Saudi Arabia allocates 100 annual treatment grants for Yemenis in Saudi hospitals in accordance with the signed protocol between the two countries’ health ministries.
“These grants were used during the period from January until July, 2017 due to the existing pressure as the Yemeni side specifies the cases according to the agreed upon criteria,” Saadi added, pointing out that the targeted cases are heart conditions, congenital malformations and chronic diseases that require major operations that are not made in Yemen.
The medical attache noted that Minister of Health Dr. Nasser Baoum is personally following the process of facilitating the entry of these cases and providing all means of support to them in order to ensure that they receive appropriate treatment without delay.
He added, “there is unlimited support from the Saudi health side, where additional cases of visiting residents and those who suffer accidents and acute injuries are being accepted.”
“Associations such as the Society for the Care of Kidney Failure Patients (Kelana) and Sanad Children's Cancer Support Association are also contributing in the support of many cases for Yemeni patients. We thank the Saudi side for all this support,” Saadi said.
Dr. Saadi also revealed that about 70 percent of the grants benefited from were from Yemen while 30 percent were from Saudi Arabia, for those who did not have regular iqamas.
He explained that Saudi Arabia takes care of the whole treatment process, without specifying the costs of the cases and no matter how much the operations will cost, unlike the situation in other countries such as Egypt or Jordan, where a specific ceiling is set for any treatment case received.
