An amusement park in Hamedan Province was declared a “philanthropist park” by the Iranian Red Crescent Society for its initiative to serve children with rare and hard-to-treat diseases, including cancer, free of charge.
The ‘Rainbow Park’, is the first theme park with an outreach to such children by offering them “happy moments with their families and loved ones,” reports the Persian-language daily ‘Shahrvand’.
As per a memorandum of understanding signed between the park’s management and the IRCS division, the complex including its personnel will provide a number of humanitarian services and facilities to children with rare diseases and their families, said Behrooz Karkhanei, managing director of the provincial IRCS.
The agreement comes on the eve of the World Rare Disease Day, observed globally on the last day of February each year, mainly to raise awareness among the general public and decision-makers about rare diseases and their impact on patients’ lives.
Rare disease is characterized by an incidence of one to five in every 10,000. About 85% of rare diseases have genetic causes. So far, 20,000 genetic disorders have been identified in the world, of which 6,000 are classified as rare diseases, and 58 of them are registered in Iran. There are also 5,000 children living with cancer in the country.
Hamid Bathayi, the park chief, said the entire personnel of the park “will do their best to uplift the morale of the suffering kids and help relieve a part of the pressure on the families.”
