Riyadh: Five Saudi ophthalmologists have performed 515 free eye surgeries in one week in Nigeria. They were part of a Saudi medical mission to the African nation.
The medical camp, held in the northern Nigerian city of Katsina from February 20 to March 2, was organised in cooperation with the World Assembly of Muslim Youth, Saudi Arabia’s Centre for International Communication said.
Dr Saeed Al Wadaani, an assistant professor at King Saud University’s College of Medicine and a member of the team, said the initial plan called for conducting around 400 surgeries, but that the team decided to do more despite a lack of resources in the face of the overwhelming response from the local population.
The five doctors, Samir Al Mansouri, Raed Al Umair, Saeed Al Qahtani, Omar Al Abbasi and Saeed Al Wadaani, operated on impoverished patients whose blindness resulted from a lack of care stemming from insufficient means and resources.
The doctors said they tended to patients from 7am to 8pm each day the camp was in operation, examining the patients, operating on them and counselling them on post-operative care.
Social media users hailed the humanitarian gesture, with commenters calling for similar camps to be held in other parts of Nigeria.
Other users called for holding camps in Saudi Arabia, as well.
