A delegation from the International Committee of the Red Cross today 5th June 2018 today met with Hon. Henry Okello Oryem, Minister of State for Foreign Affairs in charge of International Cooperation at Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
The delegation of three consisted of Mr Zoran Jovanovic, head of delegation, Mr. Omar Odeh, a delegate and Mrs Ingrid Tjoflat who is a medical Practitioner.
The guests informed Hon Oryem of the upcoming assessment that could see ICRC develop medical activities in the Northern part of Uganda. The anticipated project includes a general hospital with the capacity to accommodate at least 100 beds and the ability offer surgical facilities for war related injuries and a training component whose target will mainly be local medical workers and the ICRC Medical staff. Two other locations, namely Kyrgyzstan and Iraq are also being considered as possible locations by the ICRC.
Hon Okello expressed pleasure at this information, assuring the delegation of Governments full support and intimated that the project is in line with government’s integrative policy on refugees and refugee host communities. He also indicated that the idea of putting up a hospital of that caliber in Northern Uganda is timely and will have a positive impact on the community of Northern Uganda and neighboring communities. He emphasized this because the region had suffered a two decade insurgency engineered by the Lord’s Resistance Army resulting in many post war related injuries and traumas .
Hon Okello stated that the influx of refugees from South Sudan into the region is increasingly exerting pressure on the available medical facilities which do not have the capacity to handle complex war-related injuries. He expressed gratitude that Uganda was being considered as a location for the hospital.
The meeting was also attended by officials of Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
