A million Swiss francs for Palestinian healthcare
AFP
Date: 05-28-06
BERN (AFP) - Switzerland has decided to donate a million Swiss francs (641,000 euros, 819,000 dollars) to buy medicines for the occupied Palestinian territories and to send two health experts there, the foreign ministry said.The aid is a response to "the exceedingly fragile situation... and the danger of collapse threatening the public healthcare system" in the territories, the ministry's humanitarian agency explained.
The Palestinian Authority is in the grip of a severe financial crisis since the European Union and United States ceased direct aid to the Hamas-led government there.
The Swiss money would go directly to providers, the ministry said, with the distribution of the medicines being carried out in close cooperation with the Palestinian Authority's health ministry, the World Health Organisation and other partners.
The million Swiss francs constitute "a first phase" aimed at providing medicines to the territories' 22 hospitals and earmarked "for those patients who are in an especially critical condition," according to the ministerial statement.
Two Swiss specialists, a doctor and a logistics expert, left on Sunday for a week-long visit to the West Bank and Gaza Strip.
"The aim of their mission is to identify the most pressing needs in the health care sector and to set up a distribution system to get the medicines to the territories' hospitals," the statement said.
The EU and US have said they will not renew direct aid to the Palestinian government unless Hamas agrees to renounce violence and recognize Israel -- which it has so far refused to do -- but have promised to continue to help the Palestinian population.
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