Citizen Saeed Al-Awadi succeeded in winning membership in the Board of Directors of the Thalassemia International Federation, recently, for the second time in a row, amid competition from 116 countries, to take the issues of thalassemia patients to the global arena.
Al-Awadi told Emirates Al-Youm that people with thalassemia in the Emirates are the happiest in the world, because of the support they receive from the state.
He stressed that he decided to continue to challenge this disease and work to reduce it globally, explaining that he went through a long journey of suffering with thalassemia, which accompanied him from birth and plagued him for 39 years. However, he did not give up, but rather harnessed all his energy through implementing awareness campaigns and participation. In a number of service institutions in the country, to reduce the birth of children infected with it.
Al-Awadhi stated that he is working to present all the challenges and problems facing thalassemia patients globally, for discussion in the Thalassemia International Federation, with the aim of developing solutions to them and helping to alleviate the suffering of this group of patients worldwide.
He added: “I spent my first years in hospitals receiving harsh treatment. I was subjected to painful needle pricks under the skin on a daily basis, to expel the deadly iron from my body, and I was transfused with large amounts of blood every month, to stay alive.”
Al-Awadhi continued: “In the face of the pain of treatment, I wished for death, and I was about to succumb to the disease, especially since the doctors expected that I would not reach 15 years of age, which was the average age of patients previously, but I persevered. As the years passed, medicine advanced, and medicine became available, my health condition improved, my determination increased, and I decided to fight this deadly disease with all my strength, so that my tragedy would not be repeated with others.”
He added: “I initially volunteered at the Emirates Thalassemia Society, then I became a member of the Board of Directors, and I devoted all my time to serving patients and helping them with treatment, education, and marriage, and I was an example to them of the ability to defeat the disease. I also worked as an administrative officer at the Thalassemia Center at Latifa Hospital, and participated in local, regional and international conferences discussing confronting the disease.
Al-Awadhi said: “Thalassemia patients in the Emirates are considered the happiest and luckiest, compared to their counterparts in other countries of the world, due to the unlimited support from the government, which is represented in providing treatment completely free of charge, especially since the average cost of medications for one patient per month amounts to 20 thousand dirhams.” Without taking into account the cost of equipment, medical supervision, and providing the necessary amounts of blood from blood banks, the cost increases as the patient ages.”
Al-Awadhi stated that the Sultan bin Khalifa Al Nahyan Humanitarian and Scientific Foundation decided to build a thalassemia treatment center in every region of the country, with a capacity exceeding 60 patients, to provide them with complete treatment free of charge, without the difficulty of reaching other centers nationwide.
He explained that the Thalassemia International Federation, based in Cyprus, works under the umbrella of the World Health Organization, and its management is divided between patients and government representatives from several countries, and it is interested in discussing all issues related to the disease, and the continuous search for a mechanism to help this category of patients.
The UAE recently won two seats in the Thalassemia International Federation, one permanent and the other by nomination, with the unanimous consent of 118 countries in the federation. Sheikha Sheikha bint Saif bin Mohammed Al Nahyan, President of the Emirates Thalassemia Society, and Supreme Vice President of the Sultan bin Khalifa Humanitarian and Scientific Foundation, won. With a permanent seat in the Thalassemia International Federation, this is the first time since the founding of the Federation in 1961 that a member of the Federation has a permanent membership and seat. While the second seat was nominated for the member, Head of Institutional Communication at the Sultan bin Khalifa Al Nahyan Humanitarian and Scientific Foundation, Saeed Al-Awadhi.
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