Doha: Heads of Qatar Red Crescent, Sheikh Thani Bin Abdullah Foundation for Humanitarian Services (RAF), Organisation of Islamic Call, and Qatar Charity will lead a delegation to Jordan from Friday to March 24.
They will officially announce the extension of the Fund for the Treatment of Wounded Syrians in Jordanian Hospitals.
They will also discuss ways of strengthening coordination among parties to the fund and following up implementation of the project. They will visit the wounded at hospitals.
The visit begins with a tour of the Zaatari camp to inspect the conditions of the refugees. The delegation will also visit medical service contractors at hospitals that provides surgical operations covered by the fund.
After that the officials will visit the Qatar Red Crescent (QRC) Mission for a briefing on a psychological support programme designed for refugees.
They will hold a press conference to provide details on extending the time-frame of the fund and its budget. The move aims to bolster efforts, mobilise support, and provide healthcare for increasing numbers of wounded refugees fleeing Syria due to the escalating violence.
The first phase of the fund began its services on November 1 last year at a cost of QR4m, treating 273 Syrians of whom 29 percent were in critical condition, 45 percent with mild injuries and 26 percent with eye injuries.
The societies delegated the responsibility of implementation to QRC based on its expertise in the provision of medical services that conform to the highest of international standards.
QRC has entered into agreements with many hospitals and specialised medical centres in Jordan to treat Syrians, including Islamic Hospital, Dar Al Salaam Hospital, Shami Centre for Eye Treatment, and Dhaleel Hospital for the treatment of kidney patients. It also signed an MoU with UNHCR to provide medical treatment for Zaatari camp refugees suffering from renal failure.
The fund was created to strengthen efforts in the medical field in light of a growing number of wounded Syrians and the insufficiency of existing services which led to the death of a large number of people. Poor medical services have had a major impact on the Syrian people, forcing many wounded to flee Syria in difficult, lengthy and dangerous ways amid reports on the rise of refugee numbers escaping to Jordan due to the violence that erupted nearly 2.5 years ago.
A similar QRC project to treat the wounded began in Jordan in 2012 at a cost of $500,000 followed by a collaboration with Qatar Charity with a budget of $1,700,000. The programme has had a significant impact on medical treatment and alleviating the suffering of Syrians who sustained life-threatening injuries in the spine, head and blood vessels. QNA
