By Khaled Jabbar
TUNIS, Jan 26 (KUNA) -- Striking doctors in the Tunisian province of Kebelli south of the capital have suspended their protest as an overture and salute of admiration and honor toward a visiting Kuwaiti delegation.
The delegation comprising officials of Kuwait Fund for Arab Economic Development (KFAED) and the State of Kuwait Ambassador to Tunisia, Ali Al-Dhafiri, was greeted with the gesture upon arrival in the governorate, at least 500 kilometers south of the capital.
The local doctors and pharmacists union said in a statement the current strike was suspended and delayed to February 5 as a step intended to manifest respect and admiration toward the State of Kuwait for its aid to build hospitals and renovate medical facilities in the region and the country as a whole.
The Kuwaiti delegation has arrived in Kebelli to declare new philanthropic projects, such as building medical facilities and overhauling emergency wards at local hospitals.
The delegation has also visited Gafsa governorate, holding talks with the governor, Munther Al-Eraibi, before proceeding to Al-Radif town to examine a project for overhauling the emergency and external clinics wards of a hospital -- cost which is in the range of USD one million.
Saud Al-Ammar, an engineering advisor at KFAED, said the Kuwaiti delegation mission is part of a broad objective, renovating a number of medical facilities throughout the nation at a total cost of USD 16.9 million, indicating that the work would kick off next week.
A KFAED's delegation began last Sunday a tour in Tunisian provinces, during which they launched a number of ventures to modernize medical centers and hospitals.
The mission is in line with a loan accord, inked by KFAED with Tunisian authorities last November, at a total value of USD 79.2 million and a grant totaling USD 90,000 to build four hospitals, a medical center for treating cancer, in addition to USD 17 million to upgrade emergency facilities.
KFAED, a main financial supporter for Tunisia, signed the first funding deal with Tunis in 1963. Over the past three decades, it financed 33 projects at a value of USD 172.975 million (some USD 574.5 million). (end) ksj.rk