Dubai, August 14: Noor Dubai has offered treatment to over five million people with blindness and eye ailments, five times more than its initial target.
Dubai’s global charity initiative announced this on Thursday, as it gears up to become a permanent foundation to fight preventable blindness.
The launch of Noor Dubai on September 1, 2008, marked a global humanitarian initiative by His Highness Shaikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice-President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai. It stemmed from his belief in equality of all classes and their right to medical care.
As Noor Dubai ends its year-long global campaign, Qadhi Saeed Al Murooshid, Director General of the Dubai Health Authority and CEO of the Noor Dubai initiative, said the initiative had surpassed its initial target of a million people and helped in changing lives of 5,486,630 people through treatment and prevention.
Murooshid said the initiative helped people return to normal life, from Pakistan to Sudan and Cameroon.
“We were able to help disabled children, who were unable to go to their schools, to return to their studies. And through this project, the elderly patients have been able to take up a job and earn a livelihood,” Al Murooshid said.
In June, Shaikh Mohammed announced his decision to transform the initiative into a foundation to take on a more permanent role in the charity’s effort to carry on the fight against preventable blindness.
–Agencies