EGYPT – Egypt has inked a deal with Japan to increase the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) grant to US$19 million.

These funds are purposed to go into construction of a new outpatient clinic at Egypt’s Japan funded Abu al-Rish Hospital. This hospital falls within the framework of a distinguished Egyptian-Japanese relations that promotes developments in the health sector.

Dr. Rania Al-Mashat, Minister of International Cooperation Egypt, applauded the Egyptian-Japanese joint relations at the level of international cooperation and development financing, which resulted in supporting the health sector by about US$28 million since 2020.

Japan also provided a US$9 million grant to enhance the state’s efforts to combat the Corona pandemic, and for the purchase of medical equipment.

Minister of International Cooperation, Rania al-Mashat, explained that despite the Corona pandemic, international cooperation relations with Japan witnessed many important and pivotal agreements.

These, including a development financing agreement worth US$236 million signed last February within the framework of financing development policies in the energy sector and budget support.

She further stressed the importance of Abu Al-Rish Hospital, which is a huge edifice for treating children, as it treats more than 25,000 patients per month.

For his part, Dr. Khaled Abdel Ghaffar, Minister of Higher Education and International Research, praised the Japanese government and JICA for the support they provided to the hospital.

He also stressed that increasing the grant for the Abu Al-Rish Children’s Hospital project contributes to reducing overcrowding and reducing waiting lists for children, adding that this cooperation comes as part of the keenness to develop a new mechanism in the construction of the clinics annex to maintain the safety of neighboring buildings.

In the same context, Ambassador Noki Masaki, Ambassador of Japan in Cairo, stressed the importance of Abul-Rish Hospital, and said that both the Japanese and Egyptian governments are working closely in many areas of cooperation and development, including the health sector.

The cooperation portfolio between the Arab Republic of Egypt and Japan started since 1954 and varies in many sectors to support the government’s priorities for improving the level of children’s health care.

JICA is currently providing a grant to construct a seven-storey building behind the main hospital building to improve the hospital’s efficiency to receive more patients and provide better health care for children.

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