· 12 DEWA volunteers work in camp at Cox’s Bazar in Bangladesh
· MD & CEO: Many DEWA ladies take part in DEWA voluntary programmes
Dubai Electricity and Water Authority (DEWA) is organising a treatment camp in Bangladesh in cooperation with Noor Dubai. The Zayed Alkhair camp treats over 500 elderly people for cataract and other eye-related diseases. The programme includes early screening for children and distributing school bags to orphans. This is part of DEWA’s humanitarian and voluntary efforts during the Year of Tolerance. There are 12 male and female volunteers from DEWA taking part in the seven-day camp at Cox’s Bazar in Bangladesh. This is the second international voluntary project organised by DEWA. The first one took place last year in Tajikistan.
HE Saeed Mohammed Al Tayer, MD & CEO of DEWA, commended Noor Dubai’s efforts to implement pioneering projects to treat eye diseases for the needy around the world. He also praised DEWA’s employees who volunteered for the camp.
“The UAE continues its focus on generosity and philanthropy that was established by the late Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan, may his soul rest in peace, whose helping hands supported the poor all over the world. Our wise leadership has followed in his footsteps, making the UAE the world’s largest donor of official development aid. DEWA is sponsoring and organising the treatment camp in Bangladesh to treat eye-related diseases in collaboration with the Noor Dubai Foundation. Organising this camp in the Year of Tolerance with volunteers from DEWA staff, is part of our efforts to promote social responsibility among staff and encourage them to dedicate part of their time for voluntary work. This achieves their happiness and society’s happiness, locally and globally,” said Al Tayer.
“The 50-Year Charter launched by His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, states that ‘charity is indeed a major factor in the happiness of societies and the continuity of progress and prosperity.’ We are pleased to see how many DEWA staff wanted to take part in this programme. This is part of an integrated social work system that underlines DEWA’s efforts to promote social responsibility, and encourage employees to take part in charitable and humanitarian initiatives and programmes. A large number of DEWA’s female staff participated in these initiatives, showing the leading role of Emirati women in local and international humanitarian and development activities. This also supports the vision of our wise leadership to empower women in all areas,” concluded Al Tayer.
“Globally, around 253 million people suffer from visual impairment, 80% of it is curable or avoidable. About 750,000 people in Bangladesh are suffering from blindness. Around 1.5 million children in Bangladesh are suffering from low vision, which can be treated. Around 250,000 people in Bangladesh risk losing their eyesight because of chronic illnesses such as diabetic retinopathy. Cataracts are the most common causes of curable blindness worldwide followed by refractive errors. We can perform surgery to remove cataracts in our eye camp, reversing the visual impairment,” said Dr Manal Taryam, CEO of Noor Dubai Foundation.
“His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, launched Noor Dubai as a non for profit organisation in 2008 to support the global initiative of Vision 2020 to eliminate all avoidable blindness by 2020. Noor Dubai has been active in many programmes globally with up to 27 million beneficiaries worldwide,” added Dr Taryam.