Qatar Red Crescent Society (QRCS) has concluded two medical convoys for eye treatment and cardiac catheterisation in Mauritania.
A medical delegation from Hamad Medical Corporation (HMC) and Sidra Medicine was deployed to Mauritania, headed by Dr Mohamed Salah Ibrahim, director of Relief and International Programmes Division at QRCS.
Carried out by a volunteering HMC medical team, the first convoy involved 265 cataract surgeries and 1,734 medical consultations for patients with eye diseases in Selibaby, Guidimaka Region, southern Mauritania, in co-operation with the Islamic Development Bank and the Mauritanian Ministry of Health’s (MoH) National Programme for Blindness Control. The two-phase programme covers eight regions.
In co-operation with Mauritania’s MoH and the National Center for Cardiology in Nouakchott, the second medical convoy provided free-of-charge diagnosis, cardiac catheterisation, and treatment services for 115 children with congenital heart defects.
The inauguration ceremony was attended by Ghanem al-Nuaimi, charge d’affaires of Qatar’s embassy in Mauritania, and Mauritanian officials. Dr Ibrahim made an inspection visit to Hamad Bin Khalifa Hospital in Boutilimit, Mauritania, operated by QRCS with funding from Education Above All Foundation.
He also held a meeting with Abdallah Ould Wedih, Mauritania’s Minister of Health, to discuss potential development of the hospital. The delegation visited the Mauritanian Red Crescent and met Mohamedou Ould Rabi, Secretary-General, and heads of department. They discussed bilateral co-operation in disaster preparedness and response.