About 75 percent of Saudis benefit from the health services provided by Makkah-based Shefa'a Charitable Society for the Care of People with Chronic Diseases, a recent report has said. The report also said 23 percent of these patients do not have others to take care of them while 65 percent of them cannot afford the required means to care for themselves. The report confirmed that 95 percent of the patients feel quite comfortable with health services received by them with 67 percent asserting that the number of monthly visits by medical teams was fair enough. Dr. Khalid Al-Tayeb, Chairman of the Shefa'a Board of Directors and Director of the Diabetes Center at Al-Nour Hospital in Makkah, said that the society offers its services to patients requiring home health care especially elderly patients with diabetes, hypertension, heart failure, lung disease, kidney failure, hepatitis and obesity. “The home health services also include patients with physical disabilities, chronic diseases and patients with cancer,” added Al-Tayeb. He also noted that the society has medical teams, each one with a doctor, physiotherapist, two nurses, a social researcher and a nutritionist. “The teams visit sick people according to a prepared schedule. Shefa'a aspires to play a model role in medical care and social development in the field of people with chronic diseases in Makkah and other regions as well. We also run a number of training and educational programs for patients in order to make them aware of the use of high quality medical methods and resources.” __
