With the help of donors, Omid opened its fifth local branch in Sardasht to support people with cancer in the area.
At the opening, Friday prayer leader Molla Mohammad Vavi said Omid's report showed a significant number of patients in Sardasht, making support and help with high treatment costs especially important. He attributed the alarming figures to the effects of chemical bombing by Iraq's Baathist regime during the war and called for support for the branch so patients would not face financial obstacles.
Governor Loghman Khosropour thanked donors and asked all executive departments to facilitate the association's work in Sardasht. Omid chief executive Sirous Sadeghi thanked participants and supporters, reviewed its 30-year history and described its radiotherapy department as an important cancer treatment resource in northwestern Iran.
Omid reported that 358 patients from Sardasht received 1,744 treatment services at Omid Hospital in 1399, Solar Hijri. Because of the distance and difficulties of travel to Urmia, many stay at Omid Residence.
Founded in 1369, Omid had, after 30 years, established a Tehran representative office, local offices in Maku, Khoy and Mahabad, and a specialist and subspecialist hospital in Urmia focused on cancer care. Omid Residence accommodates patients and companions; its monthly costs of 150 million tomans are funded entirely by provincial donors.
