JAPAN PROVIDES RS.32 CRORE GRANT ASSISTANCE TO INDIA

NEW DELHI: August 4, 2005

The Government of Japan has agreed to extend to the Government of India a grant assistance of 830.00 million yen (approximately equivalent to Rs.32 crore) for construction of wards and procurement of equipment for the Sardar Vallavbhai Patel Post Graduate Institute of Paediatrics, Cuttack , Orissa. Notes concerning this project were signed and exchanged between H.E. Mr. Yasukuni Enoki, Ambassador of Japan to India , and Mr. Vivek Mehrotra, Additional Secretary, Ministry of Finance, Government of India, in the Ministry of Finance today.

The SVP Post-Graduate Institute of Paediatrics, the prominent medical institute in Orissa, provides dedicated healthcare to the undernourished children in the State. The institute has been rendering commendable service in combating post neonatal infections like acute respiratory tract infections, diarrhoea and malaria, post-measles complications and malnutrition in children. The present grant assistance being extended would enable the institute to vastly improve its medical facilities and effectively contribute towards dispensation of healthcare to a wider population. With the implementation of the grant aid, the institute would be equipped adequately to provide improved diagnostic and medical services in Orissa as well as the neighbouring states, which may help India to achieve the relevant target of United Nations Millennium Development Goal by 2015 (i.e., to reduce child mortality, improve maternal health, etc.).