Manama: Bahrain will honour on Saturday the Egyptian Children’s Cancer Hospital, the 2017 winner of the Isa Award for Service to Humanity.
“The Egyptian hospital has been selected for its humanitarian services and numerous achievements in treating children with cancer as well as for its free services in Egypt and Arab countries,” Shaikh Mohammad Bin Mubarak Al Khalifa, Deputy Prime Minister and Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the award, said as he announced the name of the winner.
The biennial award will be presented at a ceremony to be held under the patronage of King Hamad Bin Eisa Al Khalifa at the Isa Cultural Centre in Manama on June 3, the birth anniversary of the late Emir of Bahrain, Shaikh Isa Bin Salman Al Khalifa (1933-1999).
The award was named after Shaikh Isa to commemorate his outstanding dedication to humanitarian causes and his remarkable commitment to a world of tolerance and solidarity, award officials said.
Established in 2009 by King Hamad, the award recognises “exceptional people and organisations and celebrates their selfless and tireless efforts to create a better world for future generations.”
“There are those who make remarkable contributions to improve the conditions of others. These honourable individuals not only see pain, strife and hardships in this difficult world, but they also strive to bring beauty where there is none and hope where there is despair.”
The Isa Award is granted every two years to either individuals or organisations who have been selected through a process by an expert panel of jurists. The winner receives a certificate of merit, a gold medal and a $1 million cash prize.
The award covers 11 categories including disaster prevention and relief, education, and human tolerance.
In 2013, Jemilah Mahmoud, the founder of the Malaysian Medical Relief Society (MERCY Malaysia), won the first Isa Award for her efforts in the fields of disaster prevention and relief, education, community service, environment protection, climate change and poverty alleviation.
Her achievements included the establishment of a maternity and health centre for women in Darfur, Sudan, in 2004 that is now run by a local team.
Under her leadership, MERCY Malaysia also rebuilt 13 health centres in cooperation with the Health Ministry in Myanmar, after Cyclone Nargis hit that country in 2008. Following the tsunami disaster in December 2004 and the destructive earthquake that ensued in March 2005, she also helped the people of Banda Aceh, one of the poorest communities in Indonesia. Jemilah drew up a plan to provide the necessary health care to the affected people, helped rebuild two health centres and renovated the island’s Gunung Sitoli Hospital.
Dr Achyuta Samanta, the founder of Kalinga Institute of Social Sciences and Kalinga Institute of Industrial Technology in India, won the second award in 2015.
The Kalinga Institute of Industrial Technology was launched with an initial investment of just Rs5,000.
Dr Samanta’s aim was to ensure that poverty would never pose a hindrance to anyone’s education. The Kalinga Institute of Social Sciences today caters to 25,000 children from the underprivileged tribal community.
