This article appeared in the Gulf Daily News on Sunday 18 July, 2010 by Rebecca Torr:

A MAJOR campaign is being launched to raise BD100,000 to build a diagnostic and treatment centre for children with congenital heart defects in Bahrain.

The Rotary Club of Adliya will propose either setting up a separate facility or an annexe built in the Salmaniya Medical Complex (SMC).

Its long-term plan is to collect enough money for specialised heart surgery to be available at the centre and help raise awareness of the condition.

“The Gift of Life Bahrain is a sustainable project, in the first year we hope to purchase the equipment and to train the nurses and doctors,” club president Mahmood Al Yousif told the GDN.

“There is no specialised centre in Bahrain that caters to children. The Salmaniya hospital doesn’t have any specialised centre.

“Although the BDF has some facilities for the heart it’s creating a big burden on them.

“We are launching this huge campaign to raise awareness for this condition.”

The club will launch the campaign by staging a sponsored walk on October 1, which is expected to be held near the bridges between Muharraq and Manama.

The walkathon will be held to coincide with the start of breast cancer awareness month in October because the club also wants to raise funds and awareness in support of the condition.

Profits from the event will be shared equally between the breast cancer charity Think Pink Bahrain and the Gift of Life Bahrain project.

“We hope to raise between BD10,000 and BD15,000 at this event, which we want to use to kick start all activities related to these two projects,” said Mr Al Yousif.

Funds donated to Think Pink Bahrain will go towards Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) equipment worth BD880,000, which will be given to the SMC.

It will be the country’s first MRI dedicated to detecting breast cancer and is described as the best screening tool for the condition in young women.

The tool is particularly important for Bahrain, where it is more common to find breast cancer in women aged in their 20s and 30s than in the West – where it is more commonly found in those aged 50 and above.

“The Rotary Club of Adliya decided to partner with Think Pink Bahrain campaign because we believe that this is a treatable disease if detected early, so we want to increase awareness,” said Mr Al Yousif.

“We also want to help Think Pink raise funds towards an MRI equipment that is able to detect tumours in younger women, aged from 18 to 30.

“The mammographies they use now are designed to detect breast cancer in the over 30s, but because younger women have denser breast the machines can’t easily detect the disease.

“Think Pink Bahrain has raised about BD220,000 for the MRI so far and we are trying to help them raise more this year.

“We are already collecting donations and trying to create awareness in collaboration with doctors.”

To create further public awareness and interaction, walkathon participants will be encouraged to take videos and photographs and contribute them to a specialised club website.

Entries will be judged by a panel of experts and awards given to the winners.

A presentation of the photographs and videos will be created on the website.

“The most important thing is to raise awareness,” said Mr Al Yousif.

“Breast cancer is still a taboo and the word cancer in the local community is not even pronounced, the word is cloaked with other words.

“The main aim is to take away this taboo and inform them that breast cancer disease if detected early enough is treatable.

“The mammogram can be very painful but with the MRI machine no pain is involved.

“Congenital heart defects are not even discovered or diagnosed in some cases, so both of these projects are noble causes.”

To support both projects and to make a donation, contact Mr Al Yousif on 33669911 33668811 or for more information visit http://rotaryadliya.org.

“They can donate directly to our bank account or sponsor a walker. We are also looking for corporates to sponsor water stations and brochures,” added Mr Al Yousif.