CMWU in Cooperation with the Ministry of Health Opens the Al-Shifa Medical Complex Desalination Plant

Under the Patronage of His Excellency the Minister of Labor Mr. Mamoun Abu Shahla, Representing the Palestinian Government - CMWU in Cooperation with the Ministry of Health Opens the Al-Shifa Medical Complex Desalination Plant

Under the patronage of His Excellency the Minister of Labor Mr. Mamoun Abu Shahla, representing the Palestinian government, CMWU and the Palestinian Ministry of Health opened the Al-Shifa Medical Complex desalination plant, in the presence of the Undersecretary of the Ministry of Health Dr. Yousef Abu Al-Rish, Dr. Majed Awni Abu Ramadan, Chairman of CMWU's Board of Directors, Eng. Monther Shoblaq, the Utility's Director-General, and Dr. Wael Abdel-Aal, representative of Human Appeal UK and the project's funder, with the opening ceremony held in the Bashir Al-Alami Hall at Al-Shifa Hospital.

At the outset, Dr. Majed Abu Ramadan, Chairman of the Utility's Board, thanked Human Appeal for its support of the Al-Shifa desalination plant construction project and everyone who contributed to implementing the project among engineers and colleagues at CMWU, praising the cooperation with the Ministry of Health and the specialized departments at Al-Shifa Hospital in completing the desalination plant project, which will produce 500 cubic meters of desalinated water daily, sufficient for all the hospital's needs.

Dr. Abu Ramadan affirmed, in his remarks, that CMWU has spared no effort in improving the services of supplying the residents of the Gaza Strip with safe water of appropriate quality in all of Gaza's governorates, and that Al-Shifa Hospital received special attention as the Utility cooperated with the Ministry of Health to build a desalination plant benefiting all patients, doctors, workers, and even visitors at the hospital, and Abu Ramadan noted the opening of the seawater desalination plant south of the Strip, which produces 6,000 cubic meters of desalinated water and serves areas in the cities of Rafah and Khan Younis.

In turn, Dr. Yousef Abu Al-Rish, Undersecretary of the Ministry of Health, thanked Human Appeal and praised the cooperation with CMWU to provide water suitable for all uses, after the salinity rate of the water in the hospital's well reached 17,000 of the total dissolved salts, making it unusable, which also negatively affected the performance of many medical devices and equipment and led to their damage.

Dr. Yousef Abu Al-Rish expressed his hope for continued support for Al-Shifa Hospital to expand the plant to be able to serve the departments being expanded and the new departments under construction.

For his part, His Excellency Minister Mamoun Abu Shahla spoke about the difficult water situation in the Gaza Strip and his hope that the strategic desalination projects would be completed to cover a large portion of the water quantity consumed in the Strip and to stop the extraction from the groundwater aquifer so it can regain its health.

Minister Abu Shahla stressed the importance of small desalination projects, despite their small production compared to the volume of consumption, in providing water suitable for use, and affirmed his confidence that the concerned parties are working hard to implement projects and find appropriate solutions to overcome the water crisis, foremost among them the Palestinian government's effort to secure the necessary funding to build the central desalination plant, valued at $600 million, as one of the most important strategic solutions to solve the water problem by the year 2020.

He noted that the ongoing electricity outage problem hinders the work of those projects in producing the required quantity of water and increases the cost of water production.

Dr. Wael Abdel-Aal, representative of Human Appeal UK and the project's funder, thanked the partners at CMWU for the great achievement, which came as a culmination of everyone's efforts over an entire year and a response to the need of the largest hospital in the Gaza Strip.

Dr. Abdel-Aal added that this project, and all the well construction and desalination plant projects, come within the priorities of Human Appeal to assist the Palestinian people, especially amid the deteriorating water situation in the Gaza Strip, noting that this support is a donation from Muslims in Britain, valued at $420,000.

At the end of the ceremony, the Undersecretary of the Ministry of Health Dr. Yousef Abu Al-Rish honored the funding and implementing bodies of the Al-Shifa desalination plant, presenting a shield to Dr. Majed Awni Abu Ramadan, Chairman of CMWU's Board of Directors, and a shield to Dr. Wael Abdel-Aal, representative of Human Appeal, after which the participants in the celebration moved to the plant's site at Al-Shifa Hospital to unveil the plant's opening.