Abdullah bin Hasan Al-Dughaithar, president of the Prince Fahad bin Salman Charity Association For Renal Failure Patients Care (Kellana), said he was thankful to Crown Prince Salman bin Abdulaziz, chairman of the Society, for his continuous support aimed at the continual improvement of the charitable institution.
He expressed gratitude to Prince Abdulaziz bin Salman, supervisor general of Kellana, for his management and directives that have made the institution a model in charitable work in Saudi Arabia.
In an interview with Arab News reporter Nadim Al-Hamid, Al-Dughaithar said the primary goal of Kellana is to introduce its medical, social and awareness services to Saudi and non-Saudi residents throughout the Kingdom. He said Kellana’s vision is having all segments of association aware of the effects, causes and ways to prevent kidney failure, and increasing the capacity of the national health sector to meet the specialist curative requirements of the increasing number of kidney failure patients. The association also plans to conduct scientific research into prevention, and cure and introduce social programs.
What are the services Kellana Association introduces?
They include dialysis sessions for those who cannot afford it — including transportation to and from the dialysis center — as well as providing pre- and post-organ transplant medications. Other programs include securing seats at educational institutions, training and employment for patients (dialysis patients and those who had transplant operations), donors and members of the families of both (patients and donors.) It also secures transplant operations for patients when a donor is available. The Association also assists patients to get an annual financial aid of SR10, 000 from the Ministry of Social Affairs.
What about your kidney-transplant program? how many people benefited from it?
It secures the transplant operation for Saudi and non-Saudi patients who have donors. Since its beginning, 68 patients benefited from it.
And beneficiaries of post-transplant medication program?
Through the Society, these medications are provided to 125 patients currently.
What are the conditions for a patient to be eligible for the Society’s services?
Admitting patients is a function of the Society’s Sharia consultative committee that studies an applicant’s social and health status as per a certain mechanism. A patient must be a deserving of Zakat who cannot afford dialysis and necessary medications; ineligible for services at government dialysis centers; having developed the disease while staying in the kingdom; being a Saudi or an expatriate with permanent residency.
Does the Associationbenefit well from donations? How much did it receive last year?
The dialysis program cost about SR100, 000.000 annually. Kellana depends on annual donations as it secures dialysis sessions for more than 1,000 patients, and the number could increase. The donations are received through bank accounts and SMS messages. The accounts include Al Ahli Bank (National Commercial Bank NCB) account number 24648921000101, which includes the Zakat account number 1100 and the Sadaqa account number 2200. Other bank accounts include Saudi British Bank (SAB) account number 011097037001 and Al Jazira Bank account number 0016104600001. As for SMS donations, they are received by sending blank messages, each worth SR10, to the number 5060, and by making a monthly subscription to the same number, which cost the subscriber SR12 a month.
How does Kellana deal with the lack of financial resources?
Lack of resources is an obstruction to the Society’s ability to introduce its services, which is a problem for all charitable societies in this domain, and the solution lies in long-term investment endowments that can provide a permanent annual income that would assist the Association carry out its projects.
What is new in your future services?
In the next few months, Kellana will launch its Home Care program, which is based on providing medical and preventive care to patients (the Society’s patients) at their homes all over the country.
How do you implement the idea of providing admission at universities for patients?
The Association had signed memorandums of understanding with 21 educational institutions stipulating on admitting patients, donors and their family members (son, daughters, brothers, sisters, fathers and mothers) in appreciation to the their condition and with consideration of the requirements of the Saudi labor market. This is aimed at enabling the patients to get reasonable jobs that help them to provide for their families.
What about employment?
The Association also signed agreements with the Ministry of Labor, the Human Resources Development Fund and the Social Charitable Fund to facilitate employment of patients, donors and their family members.