LOC17:54
14:54 GMT
KUWAIT, March 29 (KUNA) -- Kuwait plays an important role in supporting humanitarian causes around the globe, and the country's "wise leadership" has always supported relief operations in disaster-hit areas worldwide, head of a charity society said Sunday.
Dr. Mohammad Al-Sharhan, Chairman of the Patients Helping Fund Society, said the Third International Pledging Conference to help the Syrian people was another evidence of the humanitarian leadership of His Highness the Amir Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah.
"We as NGOs specialized in medical relief were not far from aiding the Syrian refugees ... but at the fore of societies working to alleviate suffering of the wounded Syrians ...," said Al-Sharhan in a statement to KUNA.
The Patients Helping Fund Society has set up hundreds of medical projects in Syria, like mobile clinics and field hospitals, and sent ambulances, distributed thousands of first-aid kits, hundreds of thousands of baby milk cans in addition to treating the wounded in hospitals in neighboring countries, he said.
Al-Sharhan said the society was determined to continue its assistance to the needy, with the help of philanthropists in Kuwait.
Al-Sharhan thanked His Highness the Amir for his humanitarian initiatives, which contributed to the UN honoring him as a "Humanitarian Leader" and Kuwait as a "Humanitarian Center."
Some 12.5 million Syrians have been displaced internally and across neighbouring countries like Jordan, Lebanon and Turkey, Iraq and Egypt, due to the conflict in their country that has entered a fifth year.
Kuwait hosted two events in 2013 and 2014 which raised pledges worth a total USD 3.9 billion - USD 1.5 billion and USD 2.4 billion respectively - from international donors aimed at alleviating their suffering.
At both, Kuwait donated a collective USD 800 million, including USD 300 million and USD 500 million. (end)
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