SEMA receives 2.7m grant from UN groups

(MENAFN- Arab News) The Syrian Expatriates Medical Association (SEMA) with 100 doctors in Saudi Arabia as members has received a total of $2.7 million from United Nations (UN) organizations as support for its projects.
The amount came from the UN Office for Food and Population and the UN Office for Humanitarian Affairs.
SEMA is a non-governmental organization (NGO) whose aim is to improve the health care system in Syria during and after the war.
'We're thankful to the UN organizations for their help' said Dr. Hussam Jnaid SEMA head of the primary care unit and executive board member. He works for a government hospital in Riyadh.
He said the donations will go a long way in helping victims of the ongoing conflict in Syria adding that from the amount a few projects have been established.
These include a large surgical hospital and a gynecological/pediatric hospital in Aleppo north of Syria; a hospital in the suburbs of Hama in the middle of Syria; and primary care centers in different areas including the besieged Ghouta area around Damascus.
He added that his group also treats victims of the conflict in a field hospital in Latakia where a pregnant woman recently underwent surgery to remove shrapnel that entered her belly.
'The baby inside her belly was also affected by the shrapnel' he said. The woman and her baby were saved.
To improve their capability to respond to the needs of the victims of the ongoing conflict the group is also holding workshops on making prostheses.
'For this purpose we have our main headquarters in southern Turkey. We also have a mobile workshop inside Syria and another in Idlib district' Jnaid said.
He added that SEMA supports many other medical projects inside Syria.
'These include 11 surgical field hospitals 22 primary care centers; six pediatric and obstetric/gynecological hospitals; two blood banks; a training center for emergency medicine and a nursing school; in addition to four prosthetic workshops (for replacing lost limbs)' he said.