The Japanese Red Cross Society will send a doctor to Afghanistan today on a one-year mission to support and widen public health services and maternity education, it was announced Thursday.
Dr. Takao Suzuki, 48, a surgical and anesthesia specialist working at the Japanese Red Cross Wakayama Medical Center, will be based in Kabul. He will help to gauge and improve the conditions and services of the 46 public health centers within the country, in cooperation with staff members of the International Committee of the Red Cross and the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, the organizations said.
Suzuki said that although the groups may not provide a great deal of immediate help, "I think we have to try to make compromises with their values and tradition and do whatever we can."
Suzuki served in Afghanistan four previous times since 1989 as well as in Peru from 1996 through last year, when the Japanese Ambassador's residence in Lima was attacked by terrorists.