[:en]16 September 2010 (Dubai, UAE): The Palestine Children’s Relief Fund (PCRF) has referred another young patient to Moorfields Eye Hospital Dubai (Moorfields) – the Dubai branch of the Moorfields Eye Hospital in London – for treatment. The young man requires the fitting of artificial eye prosthesis – a procedure which is not possible in Gaza. A Moorfields consultant will perform a comprehensive examination of the patient at the Dubai hospital, and then the artificial eye fitting is expected to proceed quickly after this.
The patient is AbdelHadi Al Jedaili, a 15-year old young man from Albureag, Gaza, who was admitted to a Government Hospital in Gaza in January 2009 with a serious facial injury caused by an explosive device, and which led to the loss of his left eye. As there are no facilities in Gaza to treat such a serious eye injury or to fit an eye prosthesis, the PCRF decided to refer AbdelHadi Al Jedaili’s case to Moorfields Eye Hospital Dubai, which has already treated similar cases for the PCRF.
The PCRF UAE Chapter, an international humanitarian relief and medical charity, managed all the logistics to bring AbdelHadi Al Jedaili to the UAE, including visa processing, travel arrangements, and accommodation.
Dr Andrea Sciscio, Consultant Oculoplastic Surgeon at Moorfields Eye Hospital Dubai, will conduct the examination of the remaining socket to ensure a comfortable and good fit of the new artificial eye. Paul Geelen, the Ocularist based at Moorfields, will then prepare the artificial eye by carefully moulding and sculpting the prosthesis to fit in the eye socket, and in the final stages by painting the artificial eye, which fits over the remaining eyeball, to match the remaining natural eye perfectly.
Commenting on AbdelHadi Al Jedaili’s case, Dr Andrea Sciscio, Consultant Oculoplastic Surgeon at Moorfields Eye Hospital Dubai, said: “The prognosis for AbdelHadi Al Jedaili is good because there appears to be little or no bone damage to his eye socket or to the surrounding tissue; this means that the procedure to fit an artificial eye can go ahead much quicker, as there is no repair work to be done to the face or eye socket, beforehand. We expect him to make a good recovery and be able to live a very normal life after treatment.”
The PCRF welcomed Moorfield’s continuing medical support for the work of PCRF and for AbdelHadi Al Jedaili in particular. Steve Sosebee, President and CEO of the Palestine Children’s Relief Fund, added: On behalf of the PCRF, the PCRF UAE community and our local volunteers, AbdelHadi Al Jedaili and his family, I would like to thank Moorfields for continuing to help the young people in Palestine who cannot get adequate medical care locally.”
The Palestine Children’s Relief Fund is an international NGO which has sent dozens of injured children to Dubai over the past four years for medical care that is not available to them in Palestine. Most of this work has been in cooperation with The Mohammed bin Rashid al Maktoum Humanitarian and Charity Establishment.
www.pcrf.net
Issued on behalf of Moorfields Eye Hospital Dubai by WPR.
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