written by Ghada Zein in akhbarelyom newspaper
I disagree completely with people who criticize the proliferation of fundraising TV ads phenomenon on the basis that such practices are exploiting the poor and the sick to manipulate people’s feelings to get their money.
In fact, thanks to these ads we were able to establish the best healthcare and scientific research institution which is the Children’s Cancer Hospital Egypt 57357. This hospital was built and is completely sustained through donations. This has been instrumental in revolutionizing the concept and provision of free healthcare services through offering the Egyptian poor the same quality healthcare prevailing in the developed world’s hospitals.
Thanks to these ads, the renowned Aswan Heart Center was established by The Eminent patriotic Heart Surgeon Magdi Yacoub. We must not fear the propagation of these ads, as we should not underestimate the ability of the average citizen to differentiate between the reputable serious projects from the illusive and deceptive ones, being well aware that irrespective of the size of the donations, the success of the charitable projects can only be achieved with considerable administrative efficiency and planning.
This year’s fundraising ads stand out as portraying the outcomes and results of our charitable contributions to these projects. As such, at Hospital 57357 cure rates have now reached 70% in the average . We have seen recovered children resuming their normal lives after a course of treatment worth hundreds of thousands of pounds provided for them by the Hospital for free. At Magdi Yacoub’s Aswan Heart Center, we have seen hundreds of complex surgeries successfully performed to save our children’s hearts, turning their dreams of life into reality.
I will never forget this particular incidence during a scientific conference I was attending in the state of Qatar: As some of the attendees were praising the Aljazeera TV channel, considering it as one of the Arab world’s greatest contemporary achievements, other voices shouted loudly that Hospital 57357 is the greatest contemporary scientific and medical achievement in the Arab region. Welcome to these “Beggars” ads so long as they would lead to more achievements for the benefit of our country!.
