The Rotary Club of Beirut Cosmopolitan, the Rotary Club of Sahel Aley and the Rotary Club of Bluefield, Virginia, with a grant from the Rotary Foundation and a matching contribution from the Children Cancer Center for Lebanon (The Foundation) donated a state-of-the-art RetCam Digital Imaging System to the American University of Beirut Medical Center (AUBMC) – Department of Ophthalmology.
The dedication ceremony of the RetCam machine was held on July 9, 2013 in the Ophthalmology Outpatient Department at AUBMC and attended by various representatives of the participating Rotary clubs, CCCL, AUBMC Administration, as well as members of the faculty.
“The RetCam is essential for the diagnosis, treatment and follow-up of children with eye tumors, retinoblastoma and congenital retinal eye disease,” explained Dr. Bahaa Noureddine, professor and chair of the Department of Ophthalmology at the ceremony.
Asaad Salhab, former president of the Rotary Club of Beirut Cosmopolitan, who hoped this machine would help ease children’s suffering, asserted Rotary’s will for further cooperation with AUBMC.
Assaad Mounzer, assistant district governor, from the Rotary Club of Bluefield, Virginia, USA, expressed his gratitude for supporting this project, and mentioned that this is one way he feels connected to his native Lebanon.
On behalf of CCCL (The Foundation) board of trustees, Chair Salwa Salman thanked the Rotary clubs that contributed to the donation and said that CCCL’s contribution is consistent with the center’s decades-long investment in children’s health and commitment to giving them hope, hoping that the RetCam will “manage to save children’s eyes.”
Dr. Hassan El Solh, AUBMC chief of staff and head of the NKBCI and CCCL, who spoke on behalf of Dr. Mohamed H. Sayegh, the Raja N. Khuri Dean of the Faculty of Medicine, expressed his gratitude and appreciation for the Rotary clubs, asserting that the donated RetCam machine will “not only improve survival rates of children with retinoblastoma and eye cancer but will also improve the quality of their lives and vision. “This equipment will increase the volume of regional referrals of eye cancer patients rendering us a true regional Center of Excellence for retinoblastoma, and will also enhance the level, quality and standard of care that patients receive,” he added.
Both the Rotary clubs of Lebanon and the CCCL (The Foundation) have supported numerous advancements at AUBMC with the aim of improving care to patients.
