By Louise Jobe
Mr. Daisuke Enomoto, Second Secretary of the Japanese Embassy in The Gambia, on Tuesday 13th February 2018, presided over a signing ceremony dedicated for a grant for the execution of a project to supplying medical equipment to Sharab Medical Center .
The grant allows Sharab Medical Center to receive 61,505 Euros for the purchase of various medical equipment. This support is implemented within the framework of the Japanese Grant Assistance for Grass-Roots Human Security Projects (GGP), designed to support community based initiatives and various development issues and basic human needs.
The project aims at securing improved access to essential non-communicable diseases diagnosis and treatment, by enabling a variety of blood tests which will allow a timely and reliable medical treatment.
Upon completion, the project will not only attend to patients yearly, but will give access to residents within the Kanifing Municipality and peripheral rural residents will also be able to receive efficient and accurate medical diagnosis.
Madam Sharmila Lareef-Jah the M.C of the program in her opening remarks express the privilege and honour for Sharab Medical Center to have been selected for the Japanese Grant Assistance to develop a fully equipped Medical Laboratory for public and private use; that the center has a charitable side which provides free surgical treatment and medical services to the underprivileged. ‘‘We are very excited to finally have our vision of a complete diagnostic laboratory, that will contribute immensely towards our goal of providing state of the art, quality medical services to our patients’’, she said.
She thanked the Japanese Government for the Grant; that it will enable the center to provide the much needed laboratory expertise and technology to effectively and accurately diagnose disease conditions.
Dr. Abubacarr Jah, CEO of the center said the development was welcomed as people have been travelling from beyond Senegambia to the country, for medical tourism. ‘‘We have had patients from Nigeria, Ghana and Liberia, who knew about our services through the internet and friends. They travel to Sharab Medical Center and stay in a hotel for treatment and for other medical services not readily available in their country’’, he said.
Mr. Daisuke Enomoto, Second Secretary of the Ambassador of Japan in The Gambia said it was a pleasure for him to sign the grant on behalf of the Government of Japan, with the Sharab Medical Center, under the Japanese Grant Assistance for Grass-roots Human Security Projects for the supply of medical equipment to the Center; that the Government of Japan has a long lasting contribution to address global health challenges by mobilizing expertise, taking action and helping to achieve tangible results; that this is the reason why Japan prioritizes health as an important element as far as human security is concerned.
Mr. Muhammed Tambedou the Hospital Administrator, gave the vote of thanks to their distinguished friends and partners and all persons who came to witness the signing ceremony.
