UAE Gov’t Signs New Agreement to Support Low-Income Patients with Cancer

The UAE government, in its bid to improve the quality of life of its residents, has signed a new agreement between the Ministry of Health and Prevention (MoHAP) and a pharmaceutical company to provide free medications for low-income patients suffering from bladder and lung cancer.

Furthermore, the newly signed agreement with multinational biopharmaceutical company, AstraZeneca, will also benefit patients with lymphoma and acute asthma. Through the efforts of the Ministry of Health and Prevention (MoHAP), the government is slowly realizing its goals as part of the Vision 2021, set by the country’s leadership.

Gov’t Signs New Agreement to Support Low-Income Patients with Cancer in UAE
Credits: Wikimedia Commons

Soon, Low-Income Cancer Patients in UAE to Receive Free Medications

The MoU was signed by Dr. Amin Hussein Al Amiri, Assistant Under-Secretary of the Ministry of Health and Prevention’s Public Health Policy and Licenses, and Leon Wang, the Executive Vice-President, International AstraZeneca, along with Dr. Ruqaya Al Bastaki, Director of MoHAP’s Drug Department, Dr. Rita Al Chalouhi, Pharmaceutical Advisor and AstraZeneca delegation, as shared in a report by the Khaleej Times.

According to Leon Wang, “This initiative, which includes new and innovative treatment for some types of cancer and respiratory diseases, would help patients, who are under limited medical insurance, to obtain their medicines from AstraZeneca free of charge.”

For her part, Dr. Ruqaya Al Bastaki explained that the agreement comes as a part of the Ministry’s programme to support the patients, praising AstraZeneca’s initiative that would help enhance community responsibility values for companies.

Furthermore, Dr. Al Bastaki noted, “This humanitarian initiative is part of a series of initiatives launched by MOHAP in conjunction with the Year of Tolerance.”

The involved parties discussed means of enhancing innovation in the pharmaceutical sector and fostering cooperation to develop treatment of chronic diseases, such as asthma, diabetes and heart diseases, which are becoming prevalent in terms of global numbers.

This is great news for residents of the UAE because increasing the people’s chances of recovering will mean more health and happy people. This, in effect, will lead to a stronger society in terms of economic stability, and more importantly – boost the happiness of the people, which has always been the vision and at the centre of the social activities pursued by the UAE as a country.

With today’s level of technology and rate of information dissemination, breakthroughs that aim to crack the case of cancer are slowly but surely becoming more evident, especially in global nations such as the UAE, among others.

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