Syria , EC sign agreement on health sector
Syria-European Union, Health, 5/1/2002

The Syrian ministry of Health and the European Commission on 30 April signed a financing agreement to support the health sector in Syria for 30 million EURO ( 1,371 million Syrian pounds ).

In a presentation he made on this occasion, head of the EC delegation in Damascus Mr. Marc Pierini said that the Syrian ministry of health has taken steps to develop and reform the health sector. He added that the European Commission Program is to finance this reform process and reduce the running expenses of the government in the health sector, through pursuing the " budgetary approach" which is not only true for the EC but also other donors like Italy and Spain.

He indicated another point which is the project beneficiaries, noting:" we have targeted mostly economic modernization" and this is serving the future of Syria with projects carried out by SEBC, the Higher Institute for Business Administration and others. Mr. Pierini said that these projects are representative of the Syrian future, aiming to engage in the people's daily life, and this is why the minister of health in Syria is involved in these things so.

However, during the forthcoming five years, the European Commission will support the ministry's efforts to improve the health situation of the Syrian population by improving the delivery, efficiency and quality of health services.

The European Commission's support to the ministry of health will target the following results: an increased planning capacity at the national and regional levels; a health service system by the ministry of health better adapted to population needs and encompassing a range of services;

Increased administration capacity in health care facilities;

Increased capabilities of regional hospitals ( pilot phase for Lattakia and Daraa); improvement of quality Management principles, practice and accreditation and; an up- dated framework for sustainable financing of the health sector.

This program will soon be supplemented by a 100 million EURO loan to equip 15 regional hospitals. The additional funding will come from the European Investment bank ( EIB) and underlines the importance of the European Union commitment to the health sector development in co-operation with the ministry of health in Syria.

For his part, the health minister Dr. Eyad al-Shatti said that the aim of the program is to improve health centers and planning and regulation policy; improved adaptation of the needs of the population; enhanced management capacity in the health care facility; improved performance of hospitals; quality managed and accreditation processes; framework for sustainable financing of health sector. He said that the implementation of the program will be within five years and it is supported by Spain and Italy.

In a statement to Arabic News (ArabicNews.com), on this occasion, the British ambassador in Damascus Mr. Henry Hogger said: " we support the European Commission programs as the main element of Syrian Ð European co-operation ." He added that this project is coordinated by the EU itself but several member states are also co-operating with the Syrian ministry of Health. He added that for Britain: " we have started discussing with the Syrian ministry of Health ways of contributing to this co-operation specifically in the area of medical and nursing training; English Language teaching and Information Technology ( IT).

The Italian ambassador in Damascus Laura Mirachian told the Arabic News (ArabicNews.com) " We have bilateral co-operation with Syria in the health sector which we do consider very important for the social impact that we believe they are making in the Syrian society, the most importance is the overall equipment and training for one of the several state hospitals which is situated in al-Ma'ara, in the province of Idleb.. She indicated a second program is also related to the first one on training school for health personnel which will complement what the Syrian Ministry of Health is doing at this regard.

She continued that the third very important project is the enhancement of al- Assad hospital in Damascus, where " we are helping in creating a cardaeologyl center for children should be a very sophisticated and up to date center serving not only Syrian children but also infants coming from all over the Middle East region..

" Finally I want to mention the Italian hospital which is having excellent and dedicated staff and doctors and we are planning to enhance some of the equipment providing for more modern ones," the Italian ambassador concluded.

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