Free medical care day for expatriates was held in Amghara

KUWAIT: A Kuwaiti charity held a free medical care day in the bachelor district of Amghara on Thursday morning. The event, which began early in the morning and lasted until 1pm, was organized by Al-Rahma Committee for Medical Services, a branch of Al-Najat Charity Organization. Dr. Salah Malallah, the medical committee's executive director, said that the open day saw around 22 doctors specializing in a variety of fields providing basic medical checkups for up to 500 expatriate workers. "We perform general health checkups for expats, which include checking blood pressure, heartbeat and blood sugar level; the camp also contains a dental care unit, as well as eye check lab," he explained.

Malallah added that any mild cases of disease diagnosed receive the necessary medication free of charge immediately, with serious cases being referred directly to the local hospital. Dastageer, a 30-year-old Indian driver, was among those queuing for treatment at the camp. Helped with translation by a friend, Dastageer told the Kuwait Times that he had attended the camp after experiencing chest pains for some time.

I've been feeling this pain in the chest for a while now, and I couldn't get proper treatment in the regular clinic because of the language barrier," he explained. "I came today in a hope of finding an Indian doctor who can really understand what I'm suffering from, and give me a proper prescription.

Hamam Baheej, a 26-year-old Egyptian welder, was also waiting to be treated, in his case for an ulcer on his tongue. He explained that he had previously received treatment for it on a number of occasions, but it had continued recurring. "I thought since it's free to receive treatment here, why don't I come and get it checked out, especially since today is a holiday and we aren't working," he said.

Another of those awaiting treatment, 29-year-old Filipino mechanic Oliver Salatan, said that he had come to the clinic to get his eyes checked, "With the recent weather change I started to feel a pain in the eyes, so I decided to come here and use this opportunity of a day off and free medical care to get it treated," he said.

Saleh Al-Mulla, the executive director of the medical committee said that this is not the first time that Al-Rahma has organized such an event, although this was the first one on such a large scale and requiring such a high level of organization as a result.

We will continue to hold these event in the future," he told the Kuwait Times. "We are currently developing a plan to hold a day for free medical care every month, but if we don't have the capability to do that, we will hold it once every three months.

LWDLIK- This is the second free medical camp I've heard of this week. It's a wonderful idea hopefully there will be more of the same.