Kuwait celebrated at medical school ceremony in Japan

Kuwait celebrated at medical school ceremony in Japan

KUWAIT: A Japanese official said he was thankful to Kuwait for its help in the aftermath of the 2011 earthquake and Tsunami which left close to 20,000 people dead and whole towns destroyed. In a press statement issued by Kuwait’s embassy in Tokyo, Governor of Miyagi prefecture Yoshihiro Murai said the oil Kuwait had donated at the time, which is valued at about $524 million, helped accelerate the pace of reconstruction after the calamity. The remarks came at an event attended by Kuwait’s Ambassador to Japan Sami Al-Zamanan and Tohoku Medical and Pharmaceutical University students and officials.

Miyagi prefecture, closest to the epicenter of the 9.0-magnitude earthquake, was one of the most severely affected areas, with reportedly over 10,000 victims. Part of the money the prefecture received from Kuwait went to support establishing the Kuwait Partnership Fund for Medical Education with a capital of $104 million. The fund provides scholarships for medical students from Miyagi, who commit to working at designated medical institutions in the prefecture for 10 years after graduation from the then-newly established Tohoku Medical and Pharmaceutical University, according to a 2013 KUNA report. A brand-new building for the university’s hospital, said Murai, was also built using Kuwaiti aid.

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