On January 26, Vitebsk / Olga Bogacheva - BELTA /. Japan will continue to implement humanitarian projects in Belarus. This was stated today in Vitebsk by the Chargé d'affaires ad interim of Japan to Belarus, Shigehiro Mimori, during the signing ceremony of a grant agreement for the Vitebsk Regional Endocrinology Dispensary, BELTA correspondent reports. The grant of $85.5 thousand will be allocated within the framework of the Japanese government's program "Grant Assistance for Grassroots Human Security Projects" for the purchase of an Aloka ultrasound machine intended for the diagnosis of endocrine pathology. According to Shigehiro Mimori, after the Chernobyl NPP accident, the Japanese government, the Japanese Red Cross Society, and non-governmental organizations considered it necessary to provide assistance to people affected by the nuclear disaster. The Japanese government's grant assistance program has been implemented in Belarus since 2004. The medical equipment supply project will be the 25th and the first in the Vitebsk region. In total, grants amounting to $2.2 million have been allocated for the implementation of such projects for medical institutions in the Gomel, Mogilev, Brest, and Vitebsk regions. "The Japanese government intends to continue cooperation with Belarus in the field of humanitarian projects to assist people affected by the nuclear disaster," the diplomat emphasized. The Deputy Chairman of the Vitebsk Regional Executive Committee, Anatoly Diulin, expressed words of sincere appreciation and gratitude for the good deed to the Japanese government. "This is a confirmation of the friendly relations between our countries. We hope for further cooperation with Japan and its citizens," he stressed. Currently, about 80,000 patients with goiter pathology are registered with endocrinologists in the Vitebsk region, of whom about 50,000 have thyroid pathology. The equipment to be purchased under the grant will allow for the early diagnosis of thyroid cancer and timely treatment, added the chief physician of the Vitebsk Regional Endocrinology Dispensary, Lyudmila Pedchenets.-0-

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