Today, the European Investment Bank’s Vice-President Philippe de Fontaine Vive and Syrian Health Minister, Dr. Rida Said, signed a finance agreement worth EUR 130m to fund new investments aimed at modernizing and expanding the healthcare sector to directly benefit Syrian citizens by improving the quality of services offered.
The Syrian Healthcare II project signed today is the EIB’s second loan to the Syrian health sector following the completion of Syrian Healthcare I in 2009. The project concerns the construction and provision with medical equipment of eight hospitals located across six of the country’s Governorates, as well as the completion of the National Centre for Drugs and Public Health in Damascus. The hospitals selected are strategically important, given the needs and expected demands for healthcare services in Syria. Three of them are of a more specialised nature (two in Damascus, one in Deir ez-Zor Governorate) and the others are general hospitals in Rural Damascus, Idleb, Hama, Al Raqa and Al Hasake.
The project’s added value will be based on its capacity to deliver appropriate, efficient and equitable healthcare services in Syria. It will help to:
- improve healthcare access for people in more remote locations;
- respond to the underlying healthcare needs of the population for prevention, detection and drug safety as well as addressing the epidemiological challenges facing the country;
- develop the quality and safety of replacement healthcare facilities by increasing the country’s capacity to treat patients in hospital, both generally and in priority areas such as mother and child, cardiovascular and internal medicine.
Philippe de Fontaine Vive, the European Investment Bank’s Vice-President responsible for FEMIP – the Facility for Euro-Mediterranean Investment and Partnership – commented: “This project represents a concrete and significant response to the health challenges in a country confronted with a high population growth rate and to the need to fight both traditional diseases and new illnesses brought about by modern living. Our objective is to provide greater accessibility to quality healthcare services across the country, particularly for the most disadvantaged.”
The project is fully in line with EU priorities in Syria, including the National Indicative Programmes (2008-2010 and 2011-2013) for the Syrian Arab Republic, and complements the EU Delegation's activities in the healthcare sector in Syria, notably the Health Sector Modernisation Programme – HSMP II. It is also aligned with the Syrian government’s long-term (2000-2020) strategy of reducing urban-rural disparities and improving the overall quality of health services in the country.