Saudi Arabia has approved a comprehensive health services programme for displaced Syrians living in Jordan and other countries.

Operating under the Saudi National Campaign to Support Brothers in Syria, the new programme, which was approved on August 12th, will install health centres and mobile medical clinics in refugee camps and provide equipment, medicine and specialised teams, as well as ambulance services to transport critical cases.

Hamza al-Zahrani, an official with the national campaign, told Al-Shorfa, "Since the crisis began in Syria more than a year and a half ago, the Saudi leadership, represented by the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah bin Abdulaziz, has handled the issue of the Syrian people with the utmost care and attention due to the gravity of the suffering of the Syrian people from killing, destruction and bloodshed," he said.

"[This situation] heightened the concern of officials in the kingdom about the health conditions of displaced Syrians and pushed the issue to the forefront of their relief priorities, especially the condition of those who suffered major injuries in bloody clashes in their country and were able to flee to a neighbouring country such as Turkey, Jordan and Lebanon," he said.

Fixed and mobile health centres

Al-Zahrani said the kingdom is providing health services to displaced Syrians in many forms, including directly treating them with the campaign's own medical resources, as well as contracting local hospitals near dense refugee populations to provide health services to those who need care but cannot afford it, and covering the cost of these services.

He said medical treatment packages supplied by the kingdom are comprised of various services, including surgical operations.

Issa al-Qahtani, an employee of the Saudi Red Crescent, told Al-Shorfa the programme comes as part of the campaign's broader humanitarian efforts to alleviate the suffering of the Syrian people.

The health programme was approved based on field surveys, communication and co-ordination with a number of international and regional health organisations and institutions, he said.

"The campaign sought to provide urgently-needed health centres, fixed and mobile, that can be quickly installed and are easily transported and equipped," he added.

The centres feature clinics for men, women and children, and are fully equipped with all the necessary supplies, equipment and medicine, al-Qahtani said, adding that they are also staffed with medical, technical and administrative personnel to provide high levels of care in compliance with international regulations and standards.

Al-Qahtani said the campaign will distribute the locations of the centres and mobile clinics in proportion to the number of displaced people in Syria's neighbouring countries.

In the past few days, aid workers in Jordan's al-Mafraq province distributed a second batch of food and other relief supplies through the campaign to displaced Syrians residing in the al-Zaatari refugee camp.