Ajeel Sultan Al-Atouq

A nonprofit group in Kuwait that provides financial help to expatriates with health problems is seeking donations. The Patients Helping Fund Society (PHF) says that reserves have dwindled and that it expects a financial shortfall as early as next year. Kuwait Times spoke to Ajeel Sultan Al-Atouq, Medical Community Manager to learn more about the non government organization.

PHF generous provides expatriate patients in local hospitals with basic financial assistance that includes paying for medicines and in some cases, paying hospital bills in part or full. Since Kuwaitis already receive free healthcare, hospitalization and medicines, even to the extent of being sent abroad for treatment not available here, the fund focuses specifically on expats.

For more than 35 years, PHF has been operating smoothly and has been extending help to many expatriate patients. However, without individual or company support, they might end up cutting some contributions to needy expats. "Our mission is to help needy and sick expatriate patients and provide them with necessary help," said Atouq.

"The doctors prescribe the medicines, and after evaluation of their needs, we take over and give the maximum help possible if we see the need for it. Throughout the past years, including in 2015, we were running very smoothly and the funding was okay. But in the coming year, we see a shortage of funding and we are worried a bit, because this means we may have to cut aid to our regular recipients," he said. He added PHF patients also get social aid, but this will be cut if donors in 2016 do not loosen their purse strings.

Cancer Patients

According to Atouq, PHF has spent millions of dinars over the years, with KD 2.3 million in 2015 alone. "We need help; we need more donations in order to continue our work. The biggest chunk of our budget is given to cancer patients, as many expats cannot afford to buy expensive medicines, which are now being shouldered by the fund. This year, around KD 600,000 went to cancer patients. The problem is in 2016 and perhaps 2017. We may run out of funds, while the costs of medicines and hospital services are getting higher and higher," he warned.

PHF spends thousands of dinars on about 130 cancer patients out of a total of about 15,000 patients, on whom it spends a very minimal amount. "So you see how the cancer patients are eating up the PHF budget, but we cannot ignore the needs of expat cancer patients in Kuwait," Atouq mentioned. "Cancer medications are very expensive, with the cheapest costing a patient KD 180, while some cancer medications cost up to KD 3,000. We didn't have these medications 10 or five years back. I am just trying to explain to you how costly medicines are, especially for cancer patients," he said.

Evaluation

Patients get PHF aid after a series of evaluations by social workers in hospitals. "We get a report from them stating a patient's medical conditions and a report about his or her status and situation. We'll evaluate from our side and determine and assess how long we could provide for the patient, depending on the patient's economic conditions," Atouq pointed out.

In many instances, after medication and treatment in Kuwait, if the patient needs be repatriated to his/her country, the Patients Helping Fund also provides airfare for the patient and his companions. "One of our main commitments to patients is that we don't discriminate based on their religion or ethnic group. We treat everyone equally. What we get is just the medical report and the social study. We see their how much he's earning, so we know how we could be of help, whether partially or fully," Atouq said.

Donations are accepted through their website or by visiting the Patients Helping Fund headquarters in the Sabah Hospital complex. PHF also accepts donations from religious denominations or sects. "For example, if the Christian community would like to donate specifically for their brothers/sisters, we allow this. They can also donate for a specific patient through us. We also accept donations for particular nationalities - for example if you would like to donate specifically for Filipino patients, we allow this. The Kuwait Cancer Control Center (KCCC) refers patients to us and they are the link to us and their patients," he said.

Dr Rameesh Pandita, consultant hematologist at the KCCC, said PHF has been their partner for many years now. "The latest cancer medications are very expensive for ordinary cancer patients, so we refer them to ask help from PHF. Here at KCCC, we have many cancer patients who really need help; if there's no such charity organization like PHF, how could they afford to pay for hospital services and the expensive medications they need? They need support and organizations such as PHF to provide this service," he said.

By Ben Garcia