The WHO executive council will discuss in January 2009 a Saudi draft proposal for setting a detailed work plan for the activities of blind prevention throughout the world. The Minister of Health Dr. Hamad bin Abdullah Al-Mane said the World Health Organization is now formulating the draft for submitting it for discussion to the 61st meeting of WHO General Assembly. Saudi Arabia has exerted great efforts at both national and international levels for preventing blindness and removing its causes. It received two awards from the International Agency for Preventing Blindness (IAPB) in acknowledgement of its efforts in this regard, namely the Global Partnership Award and the Regional Achievement Award. Dr. Al-Mane will receive the two awards on Monday during the opening session of the eighth meeting of IAPB General Assembly.
At the national level, MOH provides its services in fighting eye diseases to more than two million patients yearly. About 28 thousand eye operations are carried out yearly in its hospitals and health centers, especially specialist hospitals such as King Khalid Eye Specialist Hospital in Riyadh, Eye Specialist Hospital in Jeddah, and Eye Specialist Hospital in Dammam. Last year, King Khalid Eye Specialist Hospital provided specialized medical care to more than 91 thousand outpatients, 7 thousand inpatients, 27 thousand emergencies, in addition to more than three thousand five hundred operations.
At the international level the Kingdom, in addition to the above proposal, submitted the initiative titled (Vision 2020: The Right to See) to the 2003 WHO General Assembly meeting, which approved the initiative.