Dubai: More than 30 students from Ajman University (AU) set out on a humanitarian campaign to Nepal to support a large number of underprivileged Nepalese citizens and Bhutanese refugees.
The 33 students from the College of Dentistry at AU targeted schools and refugee camps in Nepal to provide specialised oral hygiene, dental care and treatment for hundreds of patients, the university said.
The students, who are currently in their third, fourth and fifth years, hail from Arab and non-Arab countries and had themselves proposed the idea before it turned into a campaign.
Talal Sultan, the organiser and leader of the group, shed light on the journey’s emotional experience, saying “being able to relieve the dental pain of the refugee children and adults, having been blessed by the opportunity to help others and draw a smile on their faces gave us a deep sense of happiness”.
With the help of “Volunteering Journeys” based in the UK, which assisted in organising the community campaign, the students were able to help diagnose and treat over 700 dental patients.
Fatima Mirza, an accompanying student, also related to this feeling. “The teamwork and coordination among our peers to ensure a smooth treatment of the patients of all ages added to our experience as doctors,” she said.
Fourth-year student Abdullah Attia said, “Every patient who left the clinic was happy beyond expression. Our diagnoses and treatment of patients which spanned over two weeks and everyone who visited us in the rented hospital we were operating in or the ones we treated in the camps appreciated our care.”
Dr Salem Abu Fanas, dean, College of Dentistry at AU, had expressed his pride in this noble humanitarian initiative undertaken by the college students which, he said, reflected the high level of social responsibility exhibited by the students.
