"After waiting for 20 days, finally the Egyptian foreign ministry issued a permit for a MER-C engineers team comprising four people, to enter the Gaza Strip through the Rafa border post," MER-C Indonesia Presidium Chairman Sarbini Abdul Murad said.
Bogor, W Java (ANTARA News) - Volunteers from the Medical Emergency Rescue Committee (MER-C) Indonesia have finally received a permit from the Egyptian foreign ministry to enter the Gaza Strip in Palestine.

"After waiting for 20 days, finally the Egyptian foreign ministry issued a permit for a MER-C engineers team comprising four people, to enter the Gaza Strip through the Rafa border post," MER-C Indonesia Presidium Chairman Sarbini Abdul Murad told ANTARA News here Tuesday.

Sarbini got the information from the Indonesian embassy in Cairo which had so far facilitated the permit process for the team to enter Gaza Strip, on Monday (Oct 24).

The engineer team led by Eng Faried Thalib would enter Gaza Strip in the very near future.

"We will leave for Gaza in the near future to observe and evaluate the construction process of Indonesia Hospital," Faried said.

According to MER-C volunteers, the construction works reached 50 percent.

The team will prepare a plan for the second phase construction bidding.

Previously, a MER-C team failed to get an entry permit although the members had waited for one month in Egypt in May.

The team in Egypt had to make a tele-conference with potential bidders in Gaza in order to continue the hospital construction plan.

The signing of the MOU between the MER-C team and the winning bidder had to be done in a unique way.

The MER-C team had to wait in the Rafa border crossing in Egypt`s territories, while the contractor waited in the Palestinian part of Rafa border post.

They had to ask border crossers to pass the documents on each parties for the signing and after the signing.

"Despite the winding road, we could implement the process of the Indonesian Hospital construction. On May 14, 2011, the construction work of Indonesia Hospital at Bayt Lahiya in North Gaza officially began," he said.(*)

Editor: Heru Purwanto
Copyright © ANTARA 2011