On Monday 07/04/2015 a ceremony was held at Bank of Palestine General Management Office to sign an agreement between the Bank and Caritas Jerusalem, to support Caritas to buy a mobile clinic vehicle to provide health services to citizens in Gaza Strip. The agreement was signed by Mr. Hashim Shawa, Bank of Palestine’s Chairman and General Manager, and Father Raed Abusahlia, General Director of Caritas Jerusalem, in the presence of a number of department and division heads from Bank and Palestine and Caritas.
The agreement states that the Bank will contribute by providing funding to purchase a new vehicle to be used as a mobile clinic to provide treatment and healthcare services for citizens in all governorates of Gaza Strip; Caritas will manage the project.
Mr. Hashim Shawa valued the efforts by Caritas to support areas under poverty and its contributions to the Palestinian society, in addition to the projects it implemented during the war on Gaza and its support to schools and children. Shawa expressed his contentment to sign this agreement with an institution that supports its community through its sufferings.
Shawa also talked about the programs and projects implemented by the Bank within its social responsibility, including “Al-Bayyara Parks” project, which works to establish hundreds of recreational parks for children in various marginalized areas and Palestinian villages; in addition to “Zamaleh” program, which aims to send a group of professors and lecturers from Palestinian universities to trainings and seminars in prestigious scientific, educational and economic centers around the world, to come back with the gained expertise and deliver it to the new generations present at the Palestinian universities.
Fr. Raed Abusahlia presented some of the services provided by Caritas in the fields of health, social and relief to the Palestinian society. Many of the projects implemented by Caritas became more active in the past period, during the war on Gaza Strip. Fr. Raed Abusahlia added that Caritas worked on several projects during the war, including direct relief services to refugees in schools and shelters and projects for psychological support to children; he revealed that Caritas spent more than one million dollars during the war on Gaza Strip.
Fr. Raed Abusahlia valued the support provided by the Bank to Caritas through a mobile clinic, which will effectively contribute to help the Palestinian community in Gaza Strip, as the provision of health services will be in exchange of a symbolic price that does not exceed three shekels per case. He indicated that this project is an essential achievement in the development of health services for citizens, especially in the remote areas of Gaza Strip.
During the ceremony, the two sides discussed means for mutual cooperation and projects that can be implemented jointly in the upcoming period, which will benefit the Palestinian society and meet its needs.