Japan offers medical aid to Jordan Medical Aid for Palestinians

AMMAN — The government of Japan has extended a grant of $65,677 to Jordan Medical Aid for Palestinians (JMAP) for the provision of medical equipment under the Grant Assistance for Grass-roots Human Security Projects (GGP) scheme.

A grant contract was signed by Japan’s Ambassador to Jordan Okuyama Jiro and President of the Board of Trustees of JMAP Michael Al Sayegh during a ceremony held on Monday, according to a Japanese embassy statement.

This grant assistance aims to enhance the quality of medical services provided at the medical centre in Hitten Palestinian Refugee Camp, through the provision of a new X-ray machine, electroencephalograph and electromyography equipment. 

JMAP was established in 1990 as an NGO in Jordan. Since then, the organisation has provided medical services to Palestinian refugees in camps at affordable prices or free of charge. With the new medical equipment provided by the Japanese grant, the medical centre will be able to provide safer and more accurate services, and will improve access to medical services for underprivileged people in camp, the statement said.

At the signing ceremony, Ambassador Okuyama expressed his gratitude to the organisation’s great social contribution. “The provision of new medical equipment will allow for the establishment of a neurology department, which will provide more comprehensive medical services. The patients will no longer have to be referred to a hospital outside the camp, hitherto a significant burden for patients economically who don’t have health insurance,” the ambassador said.

Under Japanese Grant Assistance for Grass-Roots Human Security Projects, Japan has extended more than $10 million for 157 projects to non-governmental organisations, schools, hospitals, and local governments in Jordan since 1993.