DAMASCUS — The first batch of Saudi doctors and volunteers landed at Damascus International Airport in Syria on Tuesday. This is part of the Saudi Amal Volunteer Program to help the people of Syria, being carried out by King Salman Humanitarian Aid and Relief Center (KSrelief). Dr. Abdullah Al-Rabeeah, supervisor general of (KSrelief), inaugurated the program in Riyadh on Monday. The medical team, consisting of 61 doctors and specialists, is scheduled to participate in performing delicate and critical medical operations, in coordination with the Syrian Ministry of Health. The vanguard of the volunteer convoy includes doctors and consultants in the specialties of orthopedic surgery, pediatric oncology surgery, and cochlear implantation, in the first phase that will last for about 10 days. The first batch of doctors and volunteers constitutes three volunteer campaigns in medical and general specialties, out of a total 104 volunteer campaigns that will be carried out by KSrelief in the realms covering medical and surgical specialties, training and educational programs, as well as in economic empowerment. More than 3,000 Saudi male and female volunteers will participate in the program, which will have about 218,500 volunteer work hours. The program would also cover 45 medical and training specialties. The KSrelief announced that the Amal Volunteer Program will continue supporting Syria for a full year, and all the 104 campaigns will be sent successively during the coming periods, in conjunction with continuous field assessments to determine areas of need in the health sector, and will schedule the upcoming campaigns based on their results. The program aims to alleviate the suffering of the Syrian people, and secure their urgent needs in a number of specialties. The Amal program will implement more than 100 projects in the medical field, with 21 specialties, and the general volunteer field with about 23 specialties, targeting all segments of the Syrian society. Last month, the Volunteer Department at KSrelief conducted a full assessment of the health sector in Syria, which took a whole month. It was revealed in the field study that there has been a large gap in the health sector in Syria, a deficit in a number of specialties, and long waiting lists. Based on the results, it was decided to design the nature and content of the medical and volunteer campaigns.
