Press Release

Rehabilitating Idhna Government Clinic

December 19, 2012 | On Wednesday, December 19, 2012, the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), Anera, and the Palestinian Ministry of Health (MoH) and celebrated the rehabilitation and expansion of Idhna Government Clinic. The celebration was attended by  USAID Deputy Mission Director Sherry Carlin,  Representative of the Hebron Governor Akram Shurouf, Director General of Primary Health Care at the MoH Asad Ramlawi, Head of Idhna Municipality Hashem Al-Tomaizi and Anera Deputy Country Director Jamal Al Aref.

Idhna Government Clinic provides general practitioner care, mother and child health care, and vaccination services to the 24,000 people of Idhna. Because the clinic is located next to a natural spring, the building’s foundation was impacted, causing dangerous cracks to appear in the walls and floors. In addition, the clinic was unable to expand its health care services due to a lack of space, and suffered from a general state of deterioration.

After completing an assessment to identify the most appropriate way to address the structural problems, the intervention began. With nearly $200,000 of USAID funding, Anera renovated and remodeled the existing ground floor and expanded the clinic to include two additional examination rooms, a laboratory,  an external waiting area, a reception area, and a lavatory. The structural safety issues were appropriately dealt with and will no longer be a threat to the structural integrity of the building. The clinic was supplied with basic furniture. In addition, external landscaping works including building a boundary wall and adding a parking lot were completed to give the clinic a more welcoming and professional appearance.

Thanks to this intervention, the clinic can now offer better and additional health care services to the people of Idhna in a much more hygienic, safer and suitable environment. Patients can now be seen sooner and treated more efficiently.

Creating more than 850 person-days of employment (equivalent to around 110 short-term jobs), this project was completed under the Emergency Water and Sanitation and Other Infrastructure Program funded by USAID and implemented by Anera. The Program is dedicated to providing rapid emergency relief primarily in the water and sanitation sectors, and in other sectors as needed, to address the basic infrastructure needs of the Palestinian people.

Since 1994, USAID has provided more than $3.5 billion in U.S. economic assistance to Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza. USAID coordinates closely with the Palestinian Authority to support projects designed to reduce poverty, improve health and education, implement infrastructure and water projects, create jobs, and promote democracy and good governance.