RIYADH: The Saudi medical charity Al-Balsam Association for Training and Health Development performed 28 open-heart surgeries and 84 cardiac catheterization procedures in the space of just six days in Nigeria this month.
The volunteer mission to the capital, Abuja, took place from Oct. 13 to 18 and was supervised by Saudi aid agency KSrelief. The cardiac procedures included heart-valve replacements and repairs, coronary artery bypass grafts, and other complex surgeries.
The Al-Balsam medical team included 10 Saudi volunteers and 35 Nigerian professionals, who provided care at the Nizamiye and Zenith Hospitals in the city.
The charity thanked Saudi ambassador to Nigeria, Yousef bin Mohammed Al-Balawi, and embassy staff for their support and for meeting the team.
Dr. Ahmed Al-Ahmari, the executive director of Al-Balsam, said that recent attacks by the Houthi militia in Yemen against Saudi Arabia have disrupted the medical team’s journey to Nigeria. Their flight from Riyadh was postponed and ultimately canceled, and an alternative flight from Dammam was also canceled.
“Faced with the choice of turning back or finding another route, the team opted for the more challenging journey: traveling by land across the King Fahd Causeway to Manama (in Bahrain), then continuing to Doha (in Qatar) before flying to Abuja,” Al-Ahmari said.
“Upon arrival, the team headed directly from the airport to the hospital.”
In Abuja, the team faced further challenges, with access limited to only one operating room and a single intensive care bed serving several medical specialties. Equipment sometimes broke down during procedures, and heavy rains caused further delays, Al-Ahmari added.
The Nizamiye and Zenith hospitals, and the latter’s Kidney Center in Abuja, praised the members of the Saudi team for their medical expertise and unwavering commitment to humanitarian work, and presented them with certificates of appreciation for their work.