Four new grant agreements totaling $300,000, part of the Kusanone Humanitarian Assistance Program, were signed today at the Embassy of Japan in Moldova.
One of the supported projects is for providing the National Children’s Rehabilitation Center with ultrasonography equipment worth $53,500. Another project will help the Comrat District Hospital get medical waste disposal equipment worth $89,300.
Then there is a renovation project for the Mihail Sadoveanu Lyceum in Ocnița, valued at $75,700, to rehabilitate the staircases inside the building.
Yet another project, with a $77,800 budget, will see a water filtration system installed in the school of Telita village, in Anenii Noi district, plus a sewage treatment facility for the public buildings in the village, in addition to photovoltaic panels.
Japan’s Ambassador to Moldova Yoshihiro Katayama noted that the Kusanone Program has been running in the Republic of Moldova for 15 years now, during which Japan has financed investment projects totaling over $6 million to improve people’s lives. It is expected that the equipment procured under the project will be used effectively, to the benefit of the citizens of the Republic of Moldova and the refugees from Ukraine. The ambassador expressed his hope that Japanese assistance will help ensure residents a healthy and less polluting lifestyle through access to quality water. Today’s donation is yet another testament to the friendship and partnership between the two countries, he added.
Ecaterina Gîngotă, the head of the National Rehabilitation Center for Children, said that the purchase that will be made with the project’s money, a state-of-the-art ultrasonography device, will contribute hugely to the alignment of pediatric rehabilitation services to the highest standards. Thanks to the project, for the first time in Moldova, it will be possible to treat children with infantile cerebral palsy using botulinum injections.
Nina Răilean, director of the Comrat District Hospital, said that thanks to the grant, the institution will purchase equipment for disposing of medical waste. Today the hospital outsources the job, but the bills are biting. The amount of hazardous waste has increased during the pandemic, and so the hospital is in great need of such equipment.
Niculina Zaharco, principal of the Mihail Sadoveanu Lyceum, said that the infrastructure in the institution will be improved. By implementing the project, the school will be even more child-friendly. Both the front and emergency staircases will be rehabilitated. The need to use all the stairs arouse when the number of students increased, but also during the pandemic.
Rodica Rusu, mayor of Telita village in Anenii Noi district, said that for 20 years the village has been looking for support for this investment to take place. The project envisages the construction of an autonomous, energy-independent service and ecological mini-treatment facility to treat wastewater. Also, a photovoltaic park will be built that will power up the municipal water and sewerage service provider.
Through the Kusanone program, since 2008, the Government of Japan has provided non-refundable financial assistance to hospitals, local authorities, educational institutions, non-governmental organizations in Moldova, for the implementation of development projects.
