By Sami Naaman
ADEN, Dec 9 (KUNA) -- Kuwaiti charities have launched a slew of relief and development ventures in Yemen's health, educational and utility sectors as part of the nine-year-old humanitarian campaign, "Kuwait on your side." Latest fruits were a maternity and child hospital, named after the late Kuwaiti philanthropist Adel Abdulkhaleq Al-Nouri, and a medical oxygen plant with a daily output capacity of 300 cylinders. These two projects were inaugurated during a visit to Yemen by leading Kuwaiti charitable figures between November 28 and December 8.
The delegation included the head of relief committee at the Kuwait Relief Society and Director General of Sheikh Abdullah Al-Nouri Society, Jamal Al-Nouri, and the head of the Kuwait Relief Society in Yemen, Mahmoud Al-Mesbah, accompanied by the undersecretary of Maarib governorate, Abedrabbo Meftah, along with other local officials.
Raed Ibrahim, chairperson of the Yemeni Al-Tawasol Development Institution, said in a statement to KUNA that the 20-bed hospital, with state-of-art equipment, includes an emergency ward, specialized clinics, a laboratory, a pharmacy, operation rooms, intensive care and premature babies sections.
The Kuwaiti delegation had also inaugurated the complex, "the Amir of Humanity," including a four-storey clinic, a technology institute and various workshops -- construction of which was funded by Sheikh Abdullah Al-Nouri Society.
For his part, Al-Meftah praised Kuwait's philanthropic activities in various Yemeni regions since the 60s of the past century.
Kuwait was among the first states that backed Yemen in general and, in particular, Maarib that hosts relocated Yemenis from several other regions, he said.
Jamal Al-Nouri affirmed dire need for the Kuwaiti assistance in Maarib, swamped with difficulties due to inflow of millions of relocated people.
The Kuwaiti delegation had proceeded to Taiz, where they laid the corner stone of a settlement named Kuwait Village to house the displaced. The project featured 40 residential units, a mosque, a school and a clinic In Hadramot, the delegation opened two hospitals, construction cost of which was estimated at some USD 418,000.
In Lahj province, the Kuwaiti Relief Society and the local administration inaugurated a water project for 10,000 people living in ten villages. The venture featured a huge storage tank, solar energy-powered pumps and a distribution network.
Elsewhere in Abyan, the Kuwaiti delegation visited a school, renovated with Kuwaiti financial contributions, During their visit to Shabwa province, they inspected a project for drilling four water wells.
Local officials heaped praise upon Kuwait namely the charities and the Kuwaiti visitors pledged continuing aid for the nation. (end) sns.rk