Six new eye clinics will be set up at the Salmaniya Medical Complex (SMC) at a cost of BD170,000, it was announced yesterday.

'Two of the clinics will be exclusively for children,' said Health Ministry assistant under-secretary for hospitals Dr Abdul Hai Al Awadhi.

'In addition, a three-storey filing and archiving department is being set up at a cost of BD600,000, plans for which have been approved,' he said.

Dr Al Awadhi was speaking at a Press conference on a charity concert to be held by renowned Indian musician and 2006 Grammy nominee Zakir Hussain in Bahrain on December 6.

The show is being organised by Standard Chartered Bank (SCB) Bahrain, as part of fundraising efforts for its Seeing is Believing campaign, which aims to help restore the sight of individuals around the world.

The funds raised in Bahrain through the event will go towards equipping the proposed eye clinics.

The concert will take place at the Bahrain International Exhibition Centre.

'Bahrain is in the forefront of the fight against blindness and we are happy to be associated with one of Bahrain's leading banks in this charity project,' said Dr Al Awadhi.

He said they would be most gratefully looking forward to the proceeds of the concert, which he said was a step in the right direction.

'The centres will be treating all kinds of eye diseases in children and adults,' said Dr Al Awadhi.

'They will also concentrate on preventing and treating blindness caused by diabetic retinopathy and other conditions.'

He said that the filing department would be a fully-computerised facility and house all the hospital records from the time it came into existence in electronic form.

Dr Al Awadhi also revealed plans for an information technology project for the hospital, which he said would fully computerise all hospital operations, appointments, purchases and other facilities. 'The SMC will be one of the most modern facilities in the region when these projects are completed,' he said.

Among other plans for the immediate future are revamping the Accident and Emergency Department and the Day Case unit.

'Work on a new Accident and Emergency Department is already over and we will start furnishing and equipping it soon,' said Dr Al Awadhi.

A revamped Day Case Unit would also start functioning in the next few months. 'This unit would handle all routine surgeries which normally do not require prolonged hospital stay,' said Dr Al Awadhi.

'The effort would leave a lot of hospital beds to be used by those who really need to be treated extensively. This way, we could cut down on complaints that not enough hospital beds are available.'

SCB Bahrain Chief Executive Martin Fish said the bank launched the campaign to mark its 150th anniversary in 2003.

'In its first year, the campaign aimed to restore the sight of 28,000 people worldwide and it raised sufficient funds to perform 56,000 sight restorations,' he said.

Fish said after consultations with the World Health Organisation and leading eye health care organisations, the bank now aims to raise $10 million (BD3.7m) by World Sight Day 2010 to fund medical, community and education projects to make a difference to the lives of 10 million people across 20 countries.'

He said the Bahrain concert in December was part of those efforts. - TradeArabia News Service