Dubai: Medicines worth Dh48 million were distributed free to more than 300 underprivileged patients on Monday by the Dubai Health Authority to mark the Year of Giving initiative. The DHA plans to continue this initiative. Patients suffering from chronic and life-threatening diseases such as cancer were given medicines for up to one year, officials of the Humanitarian and Charitable Affairs Department at the DHA that carried out the distribution said.
The DHA aims to raise Dh250 million in aid and carry out 49 medicine donation programmes.
Humaid Al Qutami, chairman of the Board and director-general of DHA, said: “ ... the DHA will work towards successfully implementing all its 30 Year of Giving initiatives. The UAE has always followed the path of giving and has been at the forefront of humanitarian efforts. The late Shaikh Zayed Bin Sultan Al Nahyan laid the foundations for humanitarian work in the UAE and those are being followed to date by the leaders and the people of the UAE. The values of giving are key foundations for the UAE. We are pleased to undertake these initiatives in line with the Year of Giving and for us at the DHA, such charitable deeds form a part of our duty which we will fulfil diligently.”
Al Qutami added that this initiative helped reach out to patients with financial difficulties and would continue to help them in their treatment so that the recipients of the medicines follow all necessary patient-management protocols which increase their chances of recovery.
Salim Bin Lahej, director of the Humanitarian and Charitable Affairs Department and the Mo’sadah Committee at the DHA, said the initiative’s aim is to better the lives of the underprivileged and help fund medications and treatments of patients with financial difficulties.
In 2015, the Mo’sadah committee worked with various charities and organisations in the UAE to raise Dh67 million to help 1,640 patients from 43 nationalities. In 2016, they raised Dh108 million and now that the programme has been selected as one of the initiatives for the Year of Giving 2017, the department aims to raise Dh250 million and carry out 49 medicine donation programmes by the end of this year, said Bin Lahej.
