His Excellency, and our dear friend & colleague, Dr. Firas Abiad, Minister of Public Health,
CEO of Joint Commission International, Ms. Jean Courtney,
President of the Lebanese Order of Physicians Dr. Charaf Abou Charaf,
President of the Lebanese Order of Physicians in North Lebanon Dr. Sami Abi Saleh,
President of the Lebanese Order of Hospitals Mr. Sleiman Haroun, CEO of the Arab Hospital Federation, Ms. Alice Yammine Boueiz

Dear colleagues and esteemed guests,
It gives me great pleasure to welcome you all to the University of Balamand.

We are gathered here today to prove, once again, that amid all the calamities that are currently happening, we are committed, now more than ever, to deliver quality care to our patient population. This has been explicitly shown during the horrible pandemic of Covid-19, when in spite of the unprecedented economic crisis, our healthcare sector strived hard to ensure a high survival rate and to safeguard the health of critically affected patients.

It is mostly our high quality of medical care and the well-established standards of treatment that have played an instrumental role in enduring the pandemic, with the least amount of damage.

We are here today also to highlight the important and vital role of the educational sector in providing the necessary tools to maintain the critical thinking that is needed to safeguard our healthcare system and to deliver the best medical service for our population.

In view of the above, and based on our firm belief that with immense challenges come countless opportunities, we decided to establish an academic program that helps in standardizing the quality of medical care. This project would have never been realized if it was not for the extensive helpful cooperation of the JCI team in developing this academic venture.

I take this opportunity to thank all those who played a major role in organizing this event, and all members of the UOB and JCI team, who worked hard to establish this program.

Thank you. ​