Al-Balsam medical team brings hope to cardiac patients in Yemen with KSA support

RIYADH: More than a hundred heart surgeries were carried out in Yemen, in the province of Hadhramaut, by international medical specialists from the Al-Balsam International Organization, a volunteer humanitarian mission supported by the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.
The team spent a week in Hadhramaut last week, carrying out 12 open heart operations and 125 interventional heart catheterization surgeries, as well as treating nearly 500 patients in outpatient clinics.
The initiative is supported by King Salman and Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman who aim to provide the best medical services to Yemenis facing extreme difficulties during the war.
At a ceremony honoring the medical team, Yemen’s Minister of Public Health and Population, Dr. Nasir Baoum expressed gratitude to Saudi Arabia for its continuous support for Yemen, and the medical team from Al-Balsam International Organization for their great humanitarian work in the country.
“When we see a smile on the faces of patients who were operated on, we know for sure that the medical team has done a great work,” he said.
He added that there was a pressing need for more surgeries to be carried out in other provinces.
The head of the medical team of Al-Balsam, Dr. Rakan Nazer, said his team carried out 12 open heart surgeries, which included five complicated cases of arterial reconstruction, four cases of mitral valve repair and three cases of multiple heart valve repair and removal of clots from the heart.
Dr. Nazer performed a mitral valve repair surgery last Wednesday on a patient who had been suffering from severe rheumatic heart disease for over a year. He said they were able to repair the valve.
“The 32-year-old female patient lives in a remote village in Taiz Governorate that lacks all means of health care,” he said indicating that this kind of surgery was very rare, especially in Yemen.
Cardiac and abdominal consultant, Dr. Rahim Gul, a member of the medical team, said an average of 17 surgeries were conducted each day. Before the arrival of the Al-Balsam team, many had to wait a long time for operations due to the shortage of qualified doctors.