A substantial grant of 31 million Yen (more than 79 million HUF) has been awarded to the Medical Help Where It Is Needed Foundation (abbreviated as MedSpot) by the Association of Medical Doctors of Asia (AMDA) of Japan, through a tendering scheme from the island state’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
The funds will be used by the MedSpot Foundation to provide health care to internally displaced people in Ukraine – children, women and the elderly – in accordance with the call for tenders. The grant will be used to bring medicines, disposables, bandages, medical and pharmaceutical equipment to Ukraine for medical and support work on the site.
Since last autumn, the Medspot Foundation has been going out with its own ambulance to settlements in Transcarpathia, where thousands of internally displaced people have arrived since the outbreak of the Russian-Ukrainian war (the population of Uzhhorod /Ungvár/, for example, has doubled in the last more than one year). Many of the arrivals are living in refugee shelters set up in sports halls, in kindergartens or on the upper floors of schools. The health care system has not been able to keep up with the dynamic growth in the population. MedSpot’s medical team of volunteer doctors, nurses and psychologists visits refugee camps and shelters during their missions, coordinated by a Ukrainian partner co-foundation, where they provide a 24-48 hour medical and mental health care to the residents, including almost 100-150 children and adults.
Tae NAMBA, a member of AMDA’s Board of Trustees, said after arriving in Budapest that AMDA’s assessment is that grant money for the necessary medical equipment, medicines, single-use items and medical supplies will be the most effective in this situation if it reaches the people in need in the most professional and fastest way to solve their health emergency problems. AMDA was looking for a partner based on the Japanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs’ call for tenders, where one of the goals was to help Ukrainian civilians. The Japanese and Hungarian organizations participated together in this tender programme, and the sum awarded will enable MedSpot to continue providing healthcare to Ukrainian civilians in Transcarpathia.
Dr András Spányik, head of MedSpot’s medical team, described the foundation’s relationship with the Japanese Health Mission as an extremely strong and supportive collaboration. As he emphasized: a few days after the outbreak of the Russian-Ukrainian war, MedSpot’s medical team was already providing medical and mental health care to refugees at the refugee centre near the border in Beregsurány, and shortly afterwards a colleague with medical degree from AMDA arrived, with whom we had the opportunity to work together in refugee care for months.
The AMDA (Association of Medical Doctors of Asia) Japan Health Mission was founded in 1984 by Dr Shigeru Suganami: they are involved in emergency relief and community development worldwide. Their philosophy, ‘sogo-fujo’, is rooted in traditional Japanese community life, and in this spirit they consider humanitarian aid as a kind of circularity. AMDA has conducted 245 emergency relief missions in 60 countries and areas since its inception. Additionally, AMDA has been granted UN ECOSOC (Economic and Social Council of the United Nations) General Consultative Status.
/Press release of MedSpot Foundation, 15.05.2023/
