In the context of reinforcing cooperation and partnership, The Palestine Red Crescent Society (PRCS) Lebanon Branch held a meeting on August 20, 2013 with the partners under the title “PRCS and Response to the Syrian Crisis”; the meeting was held at the PRCS headquarters in Beirut.
The meeting was attended by representatives of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) and the MENA Office in the International Federation of the Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) in addition to representatives of British, Norwegian, Swedish, Swiss, Danish, Spanish and German Red Cross societies.
The PRCS was represented by Dr. Salah al-Ahmad, director of medical services in Lebanon branch, Dr. Samer Shehadeh, director of projects and cooperation in the branch, Dr. Riad Meri, coordinator of quality control, and Dr. Adel al-Ahmad, coordinator of the community health project, in addition to Ms. Tania Abu Ghosh, International Cooperation and Public Relations in PRCS main headquarters based in Al Bireh.
Dr. Al-Ahmad affirmed that the PRCS is committed to its humanitarian message and seeks to offer health services and care to all vulnerable Palestinian refugees and others regardless of their nationalities or affiliations.
He gave a review of Lebanon branch and the services it offers, in addition to the PRCS plan on its health services and the obstacles that it faces, especially with the flow of Syrian and Palestinian patients coming from Syria.
On his part, Dr. Samer Shehadeh presented a brief overview of the statistics in the branch, in terms of number of beneficiaries from the services and the effects of increasing number of Syrian and Palestinian patients coming to Lebanon, and the Palestinian camps and the services of the hospitals and centers of the PRCS in Lebanon.
He gave a briefing of the support offered by the partners in order to alleviate the impact of the crisis on the hospitals and centers of PRCS in Lebanon, and the needs that are still waiting for support by the partners.
Dr. Riyad briefed the audience on the process of implementing the quality control and standards in the hospitals of the branch and the challenges facing the process, in addition to the plan of implementing the quality control standards for the next phase.
Finally, the representatives of the partners reviewed their activities in the context of alleviating the Syrian crisis and the possible means of support to be offered to the PRCS Lebanon branch.