The Dubai Health Authority( DHA) and Axios Systems, a leading international IT Service Management software company, have signed an memorandum of understanding (MoU) to support DHA’s Mosaadah (assistance) programme, which aims to provide medical treatment to patients with financial constraints.

The Mosaadah programme is one of the key initiatives of the DHA that reaches out to both locals and non-locals who require medical treatment but cannot afford it.

The MoU was signed by Engineer Essa Al Maidoor, director-general of the Dubai Health Authority and Sami Sibai, business development director, Middle East, Axios Systems, in presence of Salim bin Lahej, head of the Mosaadah program and a number of high-ranking officials.

Al Maidoor highlighted the importance of such initiatives which  help alleviate the suffering of the needy and to ensure that they have access to high-quality  healthcare.

As part of the program, Axios Systems and Moussadah  will cover the cost of medication for chronic patients in DHA hospitals who cannot afford the cost of their medications.

Salem bin Lahej said: “This is a joint initiative to ensure that patients with chronic diseases do not stop taking their course of treatment because they cannot afford it. We would like to see these patients complete their treatment so that they have the best chance to cure themselves. This partnership will look into provision of those medications for chronic diseases that are generally expensive. The five categories we will cover include medication for cancer, asthma, rheumatology, multiple sclerosis and injections that are needed for prevention of blindness treatment.”

He said these medications is quite expensive. For example, patients seeking blindness prevention treatment require four to five injections over a course of few months and each injection is Dh10,000. Patients undergoing chemotherapy require several cycles of treatment and each cycle costs approximately Dh8,000.

Sibai said: “We will help patients who cannot continue to pay for their medication. Our aim is to ensure that lack of funds does not get in their way, so that patients particularly those with chronic diseases, are able to complete the course of their treatment and be as healthy as possible.”

Bin Lahej said:  “ In 2013, the program reached out to 600 patients and we spent four million dirhams on their treatment and Dh280,000 on equipment for them which included beds, wheelchairs, oxygen machine etc. We are very thankful to the various sponsors who helped us in our endeavour. We believe that this MoU will provide a further boost to this initiative.” - TradeArabia News Service