Jordanian YES alumni are on a roll with annual projects! In addition to the ninth iteration of Inkush Beitak, 2022 brought the fifth annual Doctors for Peace event, a medical mission that took place at the AlHamra Organization in Mafraq, a northeastern region of Jordan. Doctors for Peace took place in collaboration with Alsalam Help Foundation, whose focus is on medical and humanitarian aid in refugee camps near Syria.

Doctors For Peace is an ongoing project to provide primary medical care to low income rural populations. This year six YES alumni who are physicians with a variety of specialties worked alongside 15 other physicians from partner organizations to carry out the project in Mafraq from June 13 – 16. Prior to the public-facing event, the volunteers received two days of first aid training to make sure everyone knew the latest medical techniques.

Over four days, the doctors treated over 2,300 patients who required care from several clinical specialties including internal medicine, cardiology, pulmonology, hematology, gynecology and obstetrics, urology, occupational therapy and physiotherapy, pediatrics, emergency medicine, and dermatology. Approximately 200 beneficiaries received medical treatment after preliminary testing, and 300 received ultrasound imaging on site. In addition, the doctors found ten cases that required special treatment and referred them to hospitals for free follow up care. All medical assessment, treatment, medication, and equipment for this project was donated by medical companies. 

As we know, YES alumni projects influence the alumni themselves as well as the society they are helping. Giving back and learning a sense of communal belonging starts for many YES students while they are on program and can continue well into the future as they find ways to make an impact wherever they are. As people struggle to make ends meet in the aftermath of the ongoing covid-19 pandemic, the YES alumni in Jordan are helping solve one ongoing need – access to free medical care.