Badr al Samaa marks World Health Day
Badr al Samaa Group of Hospitals celebrated World Health Day aligning with WHO’s constitutional principle that “the enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of health is one of the fundamental rights of every human being without distinction of race, religion, political belief, economic or social condition”.
Badr al Samaa organised a zoom webinar based on this year’s theme ‘building a fairer, healthier world’. Dr Mazin ain Jawad al Khabouri, DG - Directorate General of Private Health Establishments, Ministry of Health (MoH), was the chief guest on this occasion.
In his welcome address, Sameer P T, group CEO, said, “We are dedicating this World Health Day to selfless and committed healthcare workers who have been at the forefront of the fight against COVID-19.”
He added, “We are in middle of a pandemic and we have to go a long way together in the same way we have been dealing with this since inception and now the fight becomes tougher due to new virus strains.”
He welcomed all the panelists and attendees of the event.
Chief guest Dr Khabouri expressed gratitude to each and everyone in healthcare system for their selfless and tireless contribution in current times. He expressed special appreciation for Badr al Samaa for being shoulder to shoulder with the MoH right from beginning in way of managing isolation centres, providing ambulances, large number of testing and treating COVID-19 patients.
He said it is satisfying to see how government and private sector are working hand in hand and work as single unit.
He added COVID-19 vaccine will reach masses soon and the MoH is working very hard to procure more and more vaccines.
Dr P A Mohammed, managing director, said, “No one should be deprived of good healthcare services and it should be accessible to all. Badr al Samaa Group of Hospitals strives to make quality and affordable healthcare services accessible to all.”
He added, “As responsible healthcare provider, we are honoured to be shoulder to shoulder with the MoH during this pandemic and we are always ready for more responsibilities when it comes to the health and safety of our people.”
Dr Benny Panakkal, senior consultant - Interventional Cardiology, group medical director, in his keynote speech said quality healthcare services aren’t accessible and affordable to everyone and in COVID-19 times the situation become worse.
He urged leaders and policy makers to work together to ensure equality in healthcare service availability to all sections of society. He said more focus is required to be put on primary healthcare. He explained thoroughly how we can together achieve the theme of this year’s world health day, “building a fairer, healthier world”.
Asif Shah, head Branding and Communication, who was also the host of the event, said this year’s World Health Day is falling at a time when vision for the healthcare infrastructure and services development is under cut and the major focus and resources are shifted to COVID-19 but together we have been successful enough to manage the situation along with regular healthcare service delivery.
K O Devassy, chief marketing officer, presented the vote of thanks and said this year World Health Day comes in very difficult times and in these challenging times we owe a lot to healthcare workers for the difference they are making.
He acknowledged the support of the MoH for Badr al Samaa since inception and thanked Dr Khabouri for the support without which it was not possible for Badr al Samaa to achieve the exemplary growth and become the largest private healthcare provider. He thanked all the panelists and other attendees for their valuable inputs and for their gracious presence.