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In the remote village of Maythaloun in the Jenin area of the West Bank, the local community is appreciative because a clinic is available whenever they need medical care at a nominal fee. People in the area are not allowed to travel. The clinic is receiving medicine from the Ministry of Health, as part of a program run by CARE West Bank and Gaza. The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) is covering the cost of medicine. Yusra Abdel-Rahman Al-Saleh, 55 years old, is happy because there is a clinic near her village. For the last three years, Yusra’s health has been deteriorating and she has back problems. Yusra said: ”I used to work in farming. I grew wheat and barley, but now I’m ill and cannot work. Also my feet are swollen.” Yusra comes to the clinic in Maythaloun where medicine is available. The doctor had just told Yusra she will receive the medicine for free as part of the cooperation program with the Ministry of Health. Yusra came to the clinic with her young relative Wahideh, 12 years old. Wahideh is also happy because they have the clinic in their community. Wahideh came to the clinic for treatment. Wahideh said: “I come here whenever I’m ill, and the environment is nice and it’s near my family home. The people in the clinic are wonderful and helpful and the cost is reasonable. There is nowhere else we can go to, and we cannot travel, and life here is very hard.” Wahideh added: “This clinic is making our lives easier in Maythaloun. Now I can dream of a better future. When I grow up I want to be a physical education teacher. I want to see my country develop to the better.” Dr. Jamil Al-Hamad is managing the clinic. Dr Jamil said: “when I finished my education in Minsk, Bellaruse, I decided to come back to my home country. I was the first doctor to come to the area and work in this clinic five years ago.” Dr. Al-Hamad added: “after graduation I worked as a volunteer in Al-Maqased Hospital in Jerusalem. Then I agreed to come to work in the Jenin area, so I started working here, and I put the curtains and we brought in furniture. We chose three women from the area villages and we offered them training as health workers. The clinic succeeded because of our determination, and because there is a genuine need for it among the people.” Dr. Al-Hamad said that the clinic is serving Maythaloun, Seriees, Al-Jdaydeh, and Sanour villages. He added that after 1999, the Palestinian Authority started referring people to the clinic that have insurance, but people with no insurance started coming also. Most of the time, the medicine is distributed for free. Farmers in the area have large families, they are very poor, and they cannot market their agricultural produce. There are 17,000 residents in the area. Medicines are delivered to the clinic based on a needs assessment and the essential drug list of the Ministry of Health. CARE delivers the medicines to the clinic, so Dr. Al-Hamad does not have to worry about the checkpoints. With this project, the Ministry of Health is making medicine accessible to isolated communities in the Jenin area. Dr. Al-Hamad concluded by saying: “The message we are sending to needy people is that someone cares for them.” |
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