Healthcare | Sunday 2 October, 2016 3:12 am |

The retain pharmacy chain Nahdi has signed a memorandum of understanding with Zamzam Charity Association for Medical Voluntary Services to support medical convoys and field trips.

The agreement, which was signed at Nahdi’s head office in Jeddah on Thursday, involves comprehensive charity initiatives and projects “to serve towns in need across the Kingdom while activating the role of the private sector in improving community health services for a better tomorrow,” said a press release.

It is a part of Nahdi’s strategy to expand community health services under the umbrella of the Ministry of Health, and in line with Saudi Arabia’s Vision 2030, it added.

Adel Bin Muhammad Bukhari, director general of Zamzam Association, and Dr. Yousef Al-Harethi, head of Nahdi’s organizational and legal affairs, signed the MOU.

Nahdi’s corporate social responsibility team was actively in the recent inventory of Zamzam pharmacy and warehouse.

Commenting on the agreement, Nahdi CEO Yasser Joharji said, “The MOU was part of Nahdi’s medical initiatives to serve the community as well as its commitment to raise public health awareness in accordance with Kingdom’s Vision 2030 based on the strategy of the Ministry of Health. As it works to help communities adopt better and healthier lifestyles, Nahdi aims to become a central community to expand healthcare to support more people who are in need of health services and health education.”

Joharji confirmed that the agreement came in line with the Kingdom’s Vision 2030, which aims for building a healthy society. He said Nahdi is one of the key players of the healthcare system in Saudi Arabia with a passion to serve the community and ensure healthcare services reach every member of the community, including the less privileged. “We’re just spreading the pulse of hope,” he told Saudi Gazette.

Zamzam commended Nahdi’s efforts and expressed delight over the partnership. Adnan Albar, Zamzam board chairman, expressed delight over the agreement, which serves people in need by providing them with medications through field trips and medical convoys dispatched to governorates and villages in the Kingdom. He said Nahdi’s team will join these convoys to ensure that medicines are distributed speedily and efficiently.

Nahdi and Zamzam have agreed to cooperate to implement the projects covered by the agreement. One of these is the charity medicine project, for which SR500,000 worth of medicines will be donated by Nahdi to be dispensed during field trips. Under the project named “Your riyals will give hope”, Nahdi will facilitate the collection of change (riyals and halalas) that customers leave while making purchases across Nahdi pharmacies and delivery to Zamzam where both parties will agree on how to spend these donations on a periodic basis. Moreover, Nahdi will be actively involved in dispensing drugs for the benefit of Zamzam. Both, Nahdi and Zamzam will cooperate to realize their common goals of serving the community, working forward to in the interest of the Kingdom keeping up with the Vision 2030.