Saudi Gazette To make life a little bit more bearable for renal failure patients, Prince Fahd Bin Salman Charity Association will provide them conveyance to and from treatment centers, free of charge. The association headed by Prince Abdulaziz Bin Salman Bin Abdulaziz intends to remove the tension of transportation from patients and their families. Earlier this week he told the press, “Plans are under way to provide transportation services to and from the association's treatment centers for the convenience of our renal failure patients. The association cannot provide healthcare services for all of the Kingdom's renal failure patients, but it does cover the healthcare of around eight percent to nine percent of such patients in the country. It is impossible to find one single organization in any country of the world that is responsible for all the patients in a given country. However, it is the collaborative efforts from a number of organizations along with the Ministry of Health that complement and supplement one another in the country's provision of healthcare. Currently, our association treats approximately 700 patients suffering from kidney failure in different regions of the Kingdom, and we hope to expand our services and outreach programs.” Prince Abdulaziz called all businessmen and investors, who desire to do good for the the community, to donate funds to the charitable association so that it can continue, improve and increase the noble work it is doing. Renal dialysis poses a massive financial burden that is shared between privately owned charity organizations, the government sector, and benevolent citizens and residents. The local media can also be an active partner in keeping these services available to patients with severe kidney failure. A simple yet very successful method of collecting funds from the general population is to send text message via mobile phones for SR10. Around 450,000 participants have enrolled in the monthly program for the aid of renal failure patients, in addition to the random charitable messages that the association receives each day. In addition, the association has sponsored the treatment of 150 patients at the renal centers of Al-Bir Association in Jeddah under an agreement. The chairman of Al-Bir, Mazen Batterjee, expressed his thanks to Prince Abdulaziz for his efforts in the care and support of kidney patients. “Renal failure has become an increasingly worrisome health problem worldwide. Statistics collected by the World Health Organization reveal that more than 500 million individuals suffer from severe kidney failure around the globe, with 1.5 million of them requiring frequent renal dialysis. These numbers are frightening and are expected to double in the coming ten years,” said the prince. The coalition of the government and private sectors in healthcare services for renal failure patients has enabled the Kingdom to keep up with the rise in renal failure incidence that has been witnessed in the country over the years. “Each year, the Ministry of Health opens up new renal dialysis centers and this year alone the ministry added seven new centers to the 134 already existing in the Kingdom. According to reports from last year, the Ministry of Health has supplied 1,200 renal dialysis machines,” said Dr. Abdullah Bin Abdulaziz Al-Rabeah, the Minister of Health. __
