UNHCR delivers medical equipment to Ain Az-Zaman in Sweida

On the 8th June, UNHCR Field Office Sweida handed over medical equipment to Ein Az-Zaman, the Druze religious entity with a charity arm that attends to the people most in need in Sweida.

The 7 machines, of a total value of USD 27,000, included a Doppler ultrasound, an ECG, an ultrasound echo machine, and a blood glucose meter. This medical equipment was delivered to the newly built Ein Az-Zaman clinic located in the centre of Sweida city.

The clinic provides free of charge services to an estimated 700 patients every month with the help of specialist doctors who volunteer at the clinic.

UNHCR Head of Field Office Fadela Novak-Irons said when handing over the equipment: “Internally displaced persons and persons in need in the host community in Sweida are unlikely to be able to afford the cost of a Doppler ultrasound test. This medical equipment used by specialist doctors at the clinic will help the neediest people in Sweida access quality diagnosis free of charge.”

When receiving the donation Sheikh Yusuf, Head of Ein Az-Zaman, stressed how the new equipment will enhance the basket of health services poor people in Sweida will now be able to access.

This donation by UNHCR also aims at reducing the pressure on the local health system which has been negatively impacted by the addition of around 90,000 IDPs to the local population as well as patients who visit from the neighbouring governorate of Dara’a.

Mr. Bashar Nassar from the Governor’s Office thanked UNHCR for its donation which provides Sweida governorate with its second Doppler ultrasound; the other one being in the southern most sub-district hospital of Salkhad.

Social media in Sweida has commented very favourably on UNHCR’s donation which is seen as a real contribution to the over-stretched health system.