11 March 2024, Cairo, Egypt – A US$ 8 million grant settlement signed yesterday by the World Health Organization (WHO) and Japan will present important help for critically in poor health sufferers evacuated from the Gaza Strip to Egypt for medical remedy. The settlement was signed by His Excellency Mr OKA Hiroshi, Ambassador of Japan to Egypt, and Dr Nima Abid, WHO Representative in Egypt. It was witnessed by Her Excellency Dr Rania Al-Mashat, Minister of International Cooperation, Egypt; Dr Hossam Abdelghaffar, Assistant to the Minister of Health and Population for Institutional Reform, Egypt; and Dr Hanan Balkhy, WHO Regional Director for the Eastern Mediterranean.

Under this settlement, WHO will work with the Egyptian Ministry of Health and Population to boost the Egyptian well being system’s readiness to accommodate medical evacuees. This contains making certain that referral hospitals are adequately outfitted with the required medicines, medical provides and tools, and can contain capacity-building for well being workers to offer life-saving emergency care.

“WHO is extremely grateful for the support provided by Egypt in accommodating critically ill patients from the Gaza Strip for treatment. Now, with this generous funding from the Government of Japan – a long-standing donor to WHO – we will be better able to support Egypt in ensuring continued, quality health care to critically ill and injured patients from the Gaza Strip,” stated Dr Balkhy.

The venture will deal with areas designated by the Government of Egypt as referral pathways and receiving services for the evacuated sufferers. The first tier of referral includes well being services in North Sinai Governorate; the second tier contains well being services within the governorates of Ismailia, Port Said and Suez; and the third tier encompasses well being services within the Damietta, Greater Cairo and Sharqia governorates.

Dr Abdel Ghaffar stated, “The signed agreement will work to support the Ministry of Health and Population, through the provision of medical supplies, various surgical tools and artificial joints, and by increasing the number of beds and radiology devices, in addition to implementing training programmes to share experiences between medical staff, with the aim of contributing to Egypt’s efforts towards supporting sick and injured Palestinians.”

Egypt has been receiving severely in poor health and injured sufferers from the Gaza Strip for remedy inside Egypt or for referral to different nations since November 2023, offering free-of-charge medical remedies as mandatory.

“I am pleased that Japan can contribute to the efforts by the Government of Egypt and WHO on the frontline of humanitarian assistance to provide crucial medical treatment for Palestinian evacuees from Gaza. I strongly wish this medical support in partnership with Egypt and WHO will help cure the Palestinian patients and premature babies being treated in the hospitals in Egypt,” stated H.E. Mr Hiroshi.

Japan is a crucial companion for the WHO Eastern Mediterranean Region, offering practically US$ 160 million in contributions since 2016. This funding has primarily supported emergency and illness outbreak response efforts in additional than 11 nations throughout the Region.

For her half, H.E. Dr Al-Mashat expressed her appreciation to all events and burdened that this partnership demonstrates Egypt’s continued function in offering all types of help to Palestinians within the Gaza Strip, as directed by President Abdel Fattah Al Sisi.

Dr Al-Mashat additionally indicated that these partnerships mirror the distinct growth cooperation relationships between Egypt and its worldwide companions, which reply to growth challenges and to regional and worldwide developments in mild of the nation methods and constructive partnerships which have continued for many years within the case of Japan. It is notable that this yr marks 70 years since Egypt’s bilateral partnership with Japan started. Also, this partnership comes underneath the umbrella of implementing the strategic framework with the United Nations and its businesses for 2023–2027.

“Collaborating with Egypt’s Ministry of Health and Population, WHO will address the urgent medical needs of injured and severely ill patients by supporting surgical care, and medical treatment for communicable and noncommunicable diseases, as well as psychological trauma support and other critical medical interventions,” stated Dr Abid.

WHO estimates that in complete, greater than 8000 individuals who stay contained in the Gaza Strip require medical evacuation – 6000 of whom have war-related accidents and 2000 of whom have wants linked to different medical circumstances.