The Priory in the USA of the Most Venerable Order of the Hospital of St. John of Jerusalem

2015
Medical Eye Care
Washington, D.C., USA
Project Title: Hospital of St. John in Jerusalem Website: http://www.saintjohn.org

About the Grantee

The Order of St John is and has always been apolitical, and its work furthers the cause of peace in the Middle East. In a land where ethnic and religious divisions still fester and the situation changes daily, The St John of Jerusalem Eye Hospital Group has made real the ideal of peoples united, not divided, by their faiths. Inspired by Christian ideals, the hospital treats mostly Muslim patients with the help of many Jewish physicians who assist in training.

For many years the Hospital Group battled trachoma, a disease that once regularly blinded thousands and still reappears occasionally. The Hospital Group has always dealt with traumatic injuries to the eyes, whether as the result of industrial or domestic accidents or violence. It also treats inherited diseases, such as the congenital cataracts common in the Palestinian community, as well as all other diseases of the eye, from amblyopia to glaucoma.

Purpose of the Grant

To purchase the phaco-emulsification machine needed to open a second operating theater at St. John’s new eye clinic in the Gaza Strip, thereby facilitating the delivery of 400 additional cataract surgeries per annum (starting in 2015-16)

Amount

$120,000

Term

12 months

Grant Regions

Asia (Outside South Asia), International