Within the framework of the joint cooperation between the Rotary Club of Manama, the Salmaniya Medical Complex (SMC), the Bahrain Society for Sickle Cell Disease (SCD) Patients Care, and the Ministry of Health, the Rotary Club of Manama provided equipment to the Ministry’s Research and Training Center at the Hereditary Blood Disorder Center. This comes as part of the partnership between the Club and the Society to raise the quality of services provided to sickle cell patients. The Rotary Club of Manama has supported the Research and Training Center by providing furniture, essential operational equipment, and laptops.
On this occasion, Mr. Fareed Bader, Community Service Director at the Rotary Club of Manama, expressed his great delight in partnering with the Bahrain Society for SCD Patients Care and the Ministry of Health in launching the first and second phases of the Research and Training Center that treats sickle cell patients in Bahrain. This is because the Center aims to raise the efficiency of health workers in various cadres and provides health services for patients with sickle cell disease, which is consistent with the directives of the esteemed Government that made Bahrain a center of excellence in providing care to sickle cell patients.
For his part, Mr. Zakareya Al-Kadhem, the Secretary-General of the Bahrain Society for SCD Patients Care, expressed his pride in the exceptional partnership with the Rotary Club of Manama, which provides a lot of support for quality projects in various parts of Bahrain. Moreover, Al-Kadhem highlighted that this partnership bolsters the Society’s projects that benefit patients and develop the quality of the provided medical care.
Furthermore, Al-Kadhem stressed the continuation of the partnership with the Ministry of Health, which was established years ago to raise the quality of health services provided to sickle cell patients and be a role model in various countries of the world. Moreover, Al-Kadhem indicated that the establishment of the Research and Training Center at the Hereditary Blood Disorder Center in SMC comes in line with the esteemed Government’s direction to make Bahrain a distinguished center in developing care for sickle cell disease; and to be a regional center accredited for training and increasing understanding of the challenges of the disease. In addition, the Center will help accelerate the pace of research and drug development through participation in various clinical trials and partnerships with many drug makers, which will tremendously help the 27 million people living with sickle cell disease. Also, it marks Bahrain’s contributions to changing the lives of many children in Africa and the world, as the World Health Organization estimated that 75% of children born with sickle cell disease do not reach the age of five. Additionally, Al-Kadhem stated, “We will witness a lot of discussions, studies, and exchanges of experience that will change the international and scientific understanding of sickle cell disease.” Al-Kadhem added, “What distinguishes Bahrain is that it adopts a modern approach to developing health care in partnership with the patient through representation associations and civil society institutions, such as the Rotary Club of Manama. As we highly appreciate the honourable brothers and sisters in the Rotary Club of Manama for their generous and remarkable support over the past years; this project came as a result of developing a bank of ideas and translating them into reality.”