Ali bin Hassan al-Hammadi, secretary-general of Qatar Red Crescent Society (QRCS), is visiting Sudan to sign an agreement to support the ambulance services of Sudanese Red Crescent Society (SRCS).
Accompanied by Dr Fawzi Oussedik, head of International Relations and International Humanitarian Law at QRCS, al-Hammadi is going to launch new humanitarian projects for the people of Sudan as part of the operations of its representation mission there, in co-operation with SRCS and Sudan’s Federal Ministry of Health.
The delegation was welcomed at Khartoum International Airport by Dr Awadallah Hamdan, head of QRCS’s mission in Sudan, and the mission staff.
A tripartite agreement was signed by QRCS, SRCS and the International Federation of the Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies to provide SRCS with ambulance vehicles to support the coronavirus control campaign in Sudan.
In compliance with the due preventive measures, al-Hammadi signed the agreement remotely. “SRCS is a strategic partner in executing our operations in Sudan,” he said. “I hope this contribution will pay off for the people of Sudan. Admirably, both parties work hard to serve the people of Sudan, by joining hands on many relief and development projects."
Under the agreement, SRCS will be supplied with three fully equipped ambulances, and two of them will be used in combating the third wave of Covid-19. Together with Turkish Red Crescent, QRCS had already launched a coronavirus response in Sudan, providing $1.2mn worth of medical consumables, equipment and PCR test machines for SRCS, covering more than 120,000 beneficiaries in many states.

As a donation from QRCS, al-Hammadi handed over a number of lithotripsy machines to the Centre for Renal Diseases in Sennar state.


The third ambulance will be deployed to SRCS’s health clinic at the Ethiopian refugee shelter camp in eastern Sudan.
QRCS and SRCS are responding to the recent displacement wave from Ethiopia by implementing a multiphase project for the benefit of 50,000 people at a total cost of $1,835,000.
As a donation from QRCS, al-Hammadi handed over a number of lithotripsy machines to the Centre for Renal Diseases in Sennar state. In co-ordination with SRCS, these supplies were received by Dr Ismael al-Dhabih, director of the centre, who thanked QRCS and the government and people of Qatar for their humanitarian interventions in Sudan.
Al-Hammadi promised to continue to back the country’s health sector and commended the efforts of SRCS to fight Covid-19.
In 2015, QRCS had supported the centre with 11 dialysis machines, a water station and rehabilitation equipment at a total cost of $305,000. It serves patients with kidney failure in Sennar and neighbouring states.
In commemoration of the late Dr Hassan Abdullah Kishkish, one of the founders of QRCS, al-Hammadi visited his family at their home in Khartoum. Being in office as representative of the World Health Organisation (WHO) in Qatar and consultant to Qatar’s health ministry, he took part in the establishment of QRCS in 1978.
The secretary-general met Dr Kishkish’s wife and son – the latter is a volunteer with QRCS in Doha. They thanked al-Hammadi for the visit, describing it as a recognition of Dr Kishkish.
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