The Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan Foundation today signed a MoU with the Abu Dhabi Health Services Company, SEHA, at the foundation’s headquarters in Abu Dhabi.

The MoU, which complies with the directives of President His Highness Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan to make 2017 the Year of Giving, aims to reduce the burden of obtaining medical treatment for hundreds of patients suffering from chronic diseases.

It emphasises the need to benefit from available resources and to develop cooperation and coordination mechanisms to realise mutual benefits for both parties and improve the health and treatment services provided by the Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan Foundation through its local health programme, in cooperation with SEHA.

The MoU was signed by Mohammed Haji Al Khouri, Director-General of the Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan Foundation, and Dr. Mariam Buti Al Mazrouei, Executive Director of External Treatment Services at SEHA.

In a statement to the Emirates News Agency, WAM, Al Khouri praised the partnership between the foundation and SEHA while highlighting the importance of the MOU in intensifying their humanitarian efforts to promote the foundation’s journey of development and provide charity health programmes at international standards.

According to the MoU, the cost of medicines to treat chronic diseases will be covered for elderly patients and other patients who cannot afford these medicines, for a duration to be decided by a medical committee supervising all medical cases, he added.

Dr. Al Mazrouei said that the MoU reflects the values of giving that were established by the late Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan by helping others, with the aim to reduce the burden of obtaining medical treatment for patients suffering from chronic ailments.

She explained that both sides will work together during the coming period and will hold periodic meetings to monitor their efforts, as well as form a medical committee from members of the External Treatment Services Department, to review requests for treatment support, discuss the best procedures to implement the MoU’s articles, and achieve the desired outcomes.