Mr. MARUYAMA Ichiro, Ambassador of Japan to the Republic of the Union of Myanmar, and the representative of the Maungdaw General Hospital signed a grant contract for “The Project for Upgrading of Maungdaw General Hospital in Maungdaw Township, Rakhine State” on 24th March 2020. The Government of Japan, under Japan’s Grant Assistance for Grassroots Human Security Projects (GGP) Scheme, will provide US $ 476,840 for the project.

Ambassador MARUYAMA visited Rakhine state and met with H.E. U Kyaw Tint Swe, Union Minister for the Office of the State Counsellor of Myanmar, in August 2019 and discussed the necessity of improving medical services in the area. During the discussion, the Union Minister requested support for upgrading the facility and equipment of the Maungdaw General Hospital of which the medical facility was particularly insufficient. Ambassador immediately replied and promised for prompt support and the betterment of the hospital.

The Maungdaw General Hospital currently does not have enough facility for outpatients and uses a narrow space in the inpatient ward for them. The hospital also lacks ICU facility, and patients in serious conditions have no choice but to be treated as the same as general patients. The nearest ICU facility is located in Sittwe, four hours’ drive away from Maungdaw. The lack of appropriate facilities results in serious limitations of the treatment of patients especially those in emergency situation. Taking these situations into consideration, the hospital planned to construct an outpatient and emergency ward, an ICU ward, and install necessary equipment to those, and requested support to the Embassy. More than 100,000 people are expected to benefit from the new facilities provided under the GGP scheme.

The Government of Japan has assisted 932 grass-roots projects in Myanmar under the GGP scheme since 1993, including 493 education projects, 201 healthcare projects, 141 public welfare and environment projects, 61 infrastructure projects and 36 others, aiming directly at the improvement of living standards of Myanmar people. This assistance is expected to further strengthen the existing friendly relations between Japan and Myanmar.