During his recent visit to Santiago, Chile, Dr. Abdullah Al Rabeeah, Supervisor General of King Salman Humanitarian Aid and Relief Centre (KSrelief), was a keynote speaker at the International Pediatric Endosurgery Group (IPEG) Conference in Santiago, Chile. Conference attendees included more than 650 doctors from North and South America, Europe, Asia and Africa, representing 57 countries.

At a seminar highlighting the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia’s international medical sector humanitarian work, particularly for children, Dr. Al Rabeeah began by providing the audience with a background on the Kingdom’s health care system and its current transformation under the ambitious Saudi Vision 2030 initiative. He explained that the Kingdom contributes to the well-being of children in need through such unique initiatives as the Saudi National Conjoined Twins Program. 

This program was founded and headed by Dr. Al Rabeeah, an expert in performing these complicated separation surgeries. Since 1990, the program’s staff has evaluated 106 conjoined twins cases from 20 countries; 47 of these sets of twins have been successfully separated by the conjoined twins team. The program is considered to be one of the most successful and advanced of its kind in the world, and is also one of the best-known Saudi medical humanitarian initiatives. 

During his presentation, Dr. Al Rabeeah explained that the Kingdom was one of the world’s top humanitarian donors, providing aid and relief to 79 countries since Saudi Arabia was founded. To unify the Kingdom’s humanitarian efforts, the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques, King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud, established KSrelief in May of 2015. Since that time, KSrelief has provided aid to 44 countries, with nearly 62% of its funding going to help the Yemeni people.  

The Supervisor General talked about KSrelief’s innovative methods of reaching all parts of Yemen to deliver urgent humanitarian assistance. In some areas such as Taiz, for example, which were under siege for many months by armed Houthi militia groups, camels and donkeys were used to transport oxygen cylinders to hospitals, saving many lives. Coalition aircraft were also utilized to airdrop medical and food aid into hard-to-reach areas. 

Dr. Al Rabeeah also outlined a few of the Kingdom’s other pioneering humanitarian initiatives. One of these is the Child Soldiers Rehabilitation Program, which helps children recruited by the Houthi militias and others severely traumatized by the ongoing conflict to heal and to reintegrate into their families and communities. Another important KSrelief program is MASAM, a Saudi-funded land mine clearance program designed to clear the country of the more than one million explosive devices illegally planted by the Houthis. Thus far, the project teams have located, deactivated and destroyed more than 50,000 land mines and other unexploded ordnance, saving lives and preventing injuries to thousands. Another important KSrelief initiative in Yemen established several Artificial Limbs Centers in the country to provide amputees, most of whom are victims of land mine encounters, with prosthetic devices to help them return to their normal lives.

Dr. Al Rabeeah also reviewed a number of medical sector programs carried out by the Kingdom through the Center, including the important work being carried out by KSrelief’s volunteer medical teams in the field. These specialized teams provide care for patients in a number of countries, including Yemen. These medical missions, he said, reflect the generosity and nobility of Saudi Arabia and its people.

In his closing remarks, Dr. Al Rabeeah encouraged the medical professionals in the audience to consider volunteering their time and expertise to help those in need around the world. His message to his colleagues was that together, as surgeons and physicians, they could have a significant and positive impact on the lives of children and others who desperately need their help. ​