Prague keen to support refugees, host communities in Jordan — ambassador

AMMAN — Czech Ambassador to Jordan Petr Hladik on Tuesday announced that a Czech medical delegation will arrive in Amman next September in order to perform surgeries and provide several medical treatments, benefitting both Syrian refugees and Jordanians in the host communities. 

The remarks came during the opening of the photo exhibition  “Flying Doctors’’, which showcases the work of the different medical humanitarian programmes implemented by the Czech ministry of interior.  

The opening ceremony, which was set to mark the end of the ambassador’s diplomatic mission to Jordan, also served as a platform to announce the extension of Hladik’s stay in Jordan through October. 

Running through August 22 at the Taj mall in Abdoun, the exhibition “is not just a display of the Czech government’s programmes, but a first and foremost statement about the Czech Republic not being indifferent in the face of human suffering”, according to organisers. 

Czech photographer Jií Pasz is the man behind the camera in the “Flying Doctors” exhibition, which comes as a result of the photographer’s two-years journey documenting foreign aid across Jordan, Iraq, Lebanon and Ukraine, following the fates of the people who had to abandon their homes while fleeing war. 

Prior to his work for “Flying Doctors”, Pasz studied Humanitarian Aid in Olomouc (Czech Republic) and International Development in Utrecht (Netherlands), took photographies in Myanmar, wrote about child soldiers in Uganda and filmed a documentary about prostitution in Nepal.

The exhibition captures the activities of the permanent medical humanitarian programme MEDEVAC, which has been providing medical care to vulnerable segments of the population since 1993. 

“Through MEDEVAC, medical care is provided free of charge and exclusively to civilians who are either in a dire health situation or unable to lead a decent life due to their health condition,” organisers said, noting that MEDEVAC undertakes humanitarian evacuations to the Czech Republic for surgeries, deploys Czech medical teams abroad, carries out specialised training programmes for doctors and specialists from underprivileged areas, and provides financial donations aimed at supporting foreign health insurance.

In addition, the exhibition showcases the “Aid in Place” programme implemented by the Czech ministry of interior, which provides medical care for civilians fleeing war and disadvantaged sectors of the population in developing countries. 

Since 2015, the programme has been providing financial donations aimed at providing assistance to refugees in the first point of asylum and supporting the migration infrastructure of countries hosting large refugee communities, according to organisers. 

In this regard, Hladik stressed “the Czech Republic keenness to improve the living conditions of refugees in Jordan, and to support their host communities and infrastructure in the face of the great pressure exerted by the refugee influx”.

In addition, the ambassador commended the Kingdom on “its humanitarian role in the reception and sheltering of Syrian refugees, helping them to deal with the burden they bear”.