Projects
Overseas Projects
St John Eye Hospital
The St John Eye Hospital in Jerusalem is supported by the Order worldwide. It is open to all races and religions but principally serves the Arab population. It is a 70-bedded specialist ophthalmic hospital offering the full range of modern eye medicine and surgery.
Around fifty thousand outpatients are seen, and five thousand operations performed annually, although throughput is reduced at present due to the current turmoil. The hospital faces many challenges, including financial, and the Priory's continued support remains crucial.
St John Malawi Primary Health Care Project
Malawi is near the bottom of the UN Human Development Index, which reflects factors such as life expectancy, and ranks lower than any other country in which St John operates.
Following a visit from the Priory Secretary, Richard Waller, in 2002, St John Malawi drew up a detailed funding proposal.
Chapter agreed to provide £10,000 a year for three years, starting in 2004. The project helps prevent illness through education and immunisation, with particular emphasis on the health of young children. The volunteers also provide other medicines and training in the home-based care of seriously ill people.
They work in the most densely populated townships of Malawi's commercial capital, Blantyre, where living conditions are very poor. By helping meet the modest running costs involved, Scotland's contribution has allowed expansion of the project and recruitment of 65 Community Health Workers, and it was renewed in 2007.