Medical Relief Provides Medical Services in the Villages of Jenin Area
Translated from Al-Quds Newspaper
Sunday, 23 March 2008
Page 11

Jenin. From Ali Smoudi.The mobile clinics of Medical Relief, in cooperation with CARE International, and funding by the European Commission’s Directorate General for Humanitarian Aid, organized health days and awareness raising activities in the Jenin Governorate.

A health day took place in Um Al-Rihan village, in cooperation with the local council. The village is located inside the racist separation wall, and medical services are not available. The medical team was delayed for two hours at the Israeli checkpoint.

In Arraneh village, and in cooperation with the societal mobilization project, a health day took place in the Arraneh Girls’ School, whereby 50 patients were treated, and a series of lectures were organized for 140 female students regarding dental care, nutrition, and adolescence. There are no medical services in Arraneh village, population 2800.

In cooperation with the women center in Deir Abu Daief, a health day was organized that included general medical services, laboratory testing, and medicine, to 65 patients regarding chronic diseases, women’s health, and pediatrics.

Mohammad Abu Al-Haija, Medical Relief’s project coordinator, said that mobile clinic services have expanded due to increasing demand by the village councils, because medical services are lacking especially in Un Al-Rihan village that is besieged by the racist separation wall. He added that Medical Relief will continue offering its services to such villages, so that they will stay put, and he called on aid organization to facilitate the process of humanitarian delivery and access by medical teams.

Jamal Rashed, CARE’s health project coordinator, said that coordination and communications have been taking place, in order to expedite access by medical teams.

Rashed added that services of the mobile clinics will continue until September 2008 in the mentioned villages, and that assistance is offered in 30 locations in the Jenin and Toubas Governorates, in partnership with the Ministry of Health, Health Work Committees, and Medical Relief, in order to provide medical services to the most marginalized segments of Palestinian society.