Three doctors from the Japanese Ground Self-Defence Force (GSDF) unit in Samawah joined local doctors on Thursday in meetings to study patient cases and give their professional advice at a local hospital in the southern Iraqi city. "We hope we can help local patients by adopting our medical technology," said Colonel Yasuhide Uwabe, one of the GSDF doctors.
Uwabe and his two colleagues participated in the meetings at Samawah General Hospital. They held discussions with local doctors on patients, and provided information on the latest methods of treatment. In Tokyo, Defence Agency Vice Minister Takemasa Moriya said: "It is an activity based on local needs and expectations and it is a small but significant step." Diseases such as pneumonia, cholera and dysentery are a serious problem among children in Samawah, but due partly to years of economic sanctions there is a lack of the latest medical knowledge, technology and supplies.
About 100 GSDF troops have been deployed in Samawah on a humanitarian mission to help provide water and relief supplies and aid efforts to reconstruct public facilities. More troops are expected to arrive later this month through March. Japan plans to eventually send 1,000 troops to Iraq and its vicinity to help rebuild the occupied country.
Source: Kyodo News
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