Saving Lives: The Humanitarian Dedication of a Doctor within the Service of King Salman Enterprise and Reduction Middle

RIYADH: Dubbed the “humanitarian arm of Saudi Arabia,” the King Salman Humanitarian Assist and Reduction Middle continues to increase around the globe. Nonetheless, there are a lot of folks on the market who in all probability don’t know the Physician who provides life to this human group.
King Salman established the King Salman Middle for Reduction and Charity Works in 2015 with the goal of “offering reduction and help to all these in want around the globe.” In April of the identical yr, Dr. Abdullah Al-Rabeeah, a pediatric surgeon and advisor to the Saudi Royal Court docket, was appointed basic supervisor of the establishment.
This isn’t the primary time that Dr. Al Rabeeah has held public workplace. He beforehand served because the Kingdom’s Minister of Well being and was accountable for a number of main medical tasks and establishments. For 30 years, he was head of a program accountable for separating Siamese born into poor households.
Since his first surgical procedure in 1990, Dr. Al Rabeeah has separated so many kids that when he introduced them collectively for Saudi Siamese Separation Program conferences, they barely match into the image body.
In these household photographs are kids from all around the world, a few of whom are already adults. They keep in contact with the physician who for a lot of has turn out to be a father determine, the one who gave them a brand new lease on life.
He additionally considers them his kids.
“For me, each twin is necessary and I can let you know that for me and all my colleagues, the group, these infants are a part of our household,” Dr. Alrabiah informed Arab Information.
Sufferers from 23 nations have benefited from his surgical expertise.
The Siamese phenomenon is uncommon. It’s thought to happen about as soon as each 50,000 to 60,000 births, with a barely greater frequency in southwest Asia and Africa.
Dr. Alrabiah and his group have separated 55 Siamese {couples} to this point. Their final operation was in January, after they operated on Ali and Omar, two Iraqi kids certain beneath their chests and stomachs, sharing livers, bile ducts and intestines.
The six-stage operation at King Abdullah Kids’s Hospital in Riyadh took 11 hours and 27 medical doctors and nurses from varied specialties participated in it.

Many different operations proved to be for much longer and have been carried out by bigger groups, relying on the purpose of attachment and the inner components shared between the youngsters.
Each case is completely different, however the emotional second on the finish of the method stays the identical.
“After the operation, when the dad and mom include tears of pleasure, that is what warms my coronary heart,” says Dr. Alrabiah. “We now have seen this with each twin. In Poland, Yemen, Iraq, Saudi Arabia, the Philippines, and so forth.
Most medical doctors attempt to avoid their sufferers, particularly in conditions the place lives are at stake, as a result of they worry their work could also be too emotionally fraught.
For Dr. Alrabiah, distance is unimaginable particularly when his sufferers are kids. He strongly believes that, to achieve success, a doctor should deal with his sufferers like members of his family.
“Whenever you assist save or enhance the lives of kids, particularly Siamese, and also you see them, how one physique turned two our bodies, one mattress turned two beds… I don’t suppose it’s one thing that may be simply forgotten. And for me, it’s a bond that lasts a lifetime.”
Regardless of his rising presence in public life in Saudi Arabia over time, Mr. Al-Rabeeah didn’t cease practising his occupation as a doctor, and continued to follow surgical procedure whilst a minister.
His vocation is medication and saving lives – a path he wouldn’t change, even when he went again 4 many years and selected one other discipline.
“After I began finding out medication, I believed in it,” he says, recalling when he entered the School of Medication at King Saud College in Riyadh.
“After I selected to specialise in pediatric surgical procedure, I believed in surgical procedure, and I believed in kids (…). I at all times educate this to my kids: Don’t do something until you imagine in it.”
Dr. Al-Rabiah’s medical ethics are mirrored in his humanitarian work with the King Salman Reduction Middle, which has supplied emergency, meals and medical help since its inception in 90 nations.

These interventions, representing greater than $6 billion, have enabled Saudi Arabia to place itself, over the previous eight years, among the many most beneficiant and fastest-growing donors on the earth.
The size and velocity of Saudi Arabia’s emergency response was evident when devastating earthquakes struck southern Turkey and northern Syria final month, killing greater than 50,000 folks. In among the affected areas, KSrelief groups have been the primary international rescue employees to reach with emergency help and medical care.
The humanitarian disaster in Turkey and Syria additionally highlighted the mission of the King Salman Humanitarian Assist and Reduction Middle in encouraging public participation and supporting Saudi reduction missions. Within the weeks since launching its on-line marketing campaign for earthquake reduction, KSrelief has raised greater than $130 million in personal donations.
“As for the Saudi (emergency) response in Syria and Turkey, I’m pleased with it,” Dr. Al Rabeeah informed Arab Information on the sidelines of the Riyadh Worldwide Humanitarian Discussion board organized by the King Salman Middle and the United Nations in Saudi Arabia. DC on the finish of February.
In the course of the convention, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia insisted on strengthening communication between actors within the discipline of world help and discovering options to issues associated to interventions, at a time when the variety of pure and human-origin disasters seems to be rising.

“We’re witnessing an rising variety of conflicts, disasters and earthquakes, so we have to enhance our response and be quicker,” says Dr. Alrabiah. “Coordination stays a problem, particularly when there may be an emergency response, and that is an space that was additionally mentioned – obtain higher coordination.”
With the variety of tasks and interventions rising annually and the assist it receives from the Saudi authorities, KSrelief could be on the forefront of enhancing international help sooner or later.
“King Salman Reduction Middle is the humanitarian arm of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia,” says Dr. Alrabiah. “I count on that in 10 years, KSrelief will probably be one of many predominant gamers within the humanitarian discipline. Not solely to offer help, as a result of anybody can present help, but additionally to play a job in shaping help insurance policies and enhancing the standard of help.”
And there’s no doubt that his dedication to the trigger has been overestimated. “Nothing touches me greater than serving to these in want,” says Dr. Alrabiah. “I imagine that.”
This textual content is a translation of an article printed on Arabnews.com