Israeli medics to aid Ukraine

By P Unnikrishnan

TDT | Manama

The Daily Tribune – www.newsofbahrain.com

Israel plans to set up a civilian field hospital in Ukraine to aid refugees affected by war, said Israeli Health Minister Nitzan Horowitz during an exclusive interview with The Daily Tribune yesterday.

Mr Nitzan, who is on an official visit to Bahrain, said Israel wants to support Ukrainian people by sharing the Israeli experience of dealing with emergency medical situations.

“In Ukraine, you have now a stream of refugees, who need a lot of medical attention and Israeli civilian field hospital is going to treat many patients in Ukraine. “We are sending doctors, nurses, paramedics and required equipment in another few days,” he said, adding that Israel has many times sent similar teams to many conflict zones across the world.

On areas of healthcare cooperation with Bahrain, Mr Nitzan said a mutual agreement has been signed between both nations. “We discussed mutual recognition of universities, training of doctors, other medical staff, cooperation in digital health, cancer treatment apart from a whole array of issues that we have in common.”

He said Israel welcomes Bahraini medical students to pursue their higher education. “They can come to Israel and undergo training in specific areas such as cancer treatment, brain surgery, emergency relief operations and in other areas where Israel has gained expertise.”

Regarding the battle against pandemic, Mr Nitzan congratulated Bahrain for its remarkable success, especially on the vaccination front. “There are many things that Israel should learn from Bahrain in the healthcare field. I visited the cancer treatment centre at King Hamad Medical University and found that the institution, staff and others are doing a great job.”

“I think what we can contribute is the expertise in areas, where we have gained experience. For instance, we are one of the first countries in the world to carry out organ transplants in large numbers and this expertise could be of help to Bahrain, which, from what I have understood, has a long waiting list for organ transplants.” Mr Nitzan said there has to be a global consensus on promoting stem cell research as it is vital in many modern treatments.

“I understand there are many ethical issues involved, but this could be addressed by setting global guidelines for stem cell research as it holds the future.” Israel is a pioneer in stem cell research.