Following multiple medical-training missions in Ethiopia, Rambam Health Care Campus (Rambam) in Haifa, Israel, has signed an agreement of cooperation with St. Peter’s Specialized Hospital (St. Peter’s) in Addis Ababa.
Top) Members of the Czech Republic parliamentary delegation with Professor Michael Halberthal (center). Dr. Michal Mekel (R) and Dr. Yotam Shkedy (top R) with the delegation from St. Peter’s Specialized Hospital. Photography: Rambam HCC.
Rambam’s medical-training missions in Addis Ababa significantly impact the developing country’s healthcare services. Over the years, Rambam’s expert physicians have trained Ethiopian medical teams to perform complex head and neck surgeries, correct orthopedic birth defects, and repair craniofacial deformities such as cleft palates and cleft lips, to name but a few.
Recently, St. Peter’s representatives arrived in Israel to strengthen cooperation with Rambam. The delegation, consisting of Hospital Director Dr. Matasebia Mespin, and the head of teaching and research, Dr. Ahado Warkana, met with Professor Michael Halberthal, Rambam’s director general and CEO, Dr. Michal Mekel, deputy director, and Dr. Yotam Shkedy, director of the Department of Otolaryngology-Head & Neck Surgery.
The St. Peter’s delegation also met with the heads of different hospital departments and units to learn about best practices at Rambam. The Ethiopian hospital representatives toured the Sammy Ofer Fortified Underground Emergency Hospital—the largest facility of its kind in the world—and Rambam’s outpatient clinics.
Dr. Mespin and Dr. Warkana signed a cooperation agreement with Rambam aimed deepening the relationship between the two hospitals. Initially, these efforts will focus on head and neck surgery, electroencephalography, and gynecology but will expand to other medical disciplines in the future.
In addition to the Ethiopian delegation, a group of parliamentarians from the Czech Republic also visited Rambam. These parliamentarians are part of the Israel-Czech inter-parliamentary friendship group.
The delegation met with Professor Halberthal, who spoke about Rambam’s rich history, extensive operations in all medical specialties, and medical research. He described Rambam’s role as a leading Israeli center for training and management of trauma and mass casualty situations. In addition, the Czech parliamentarians learned about Rambam’s Teaching Center for Trauma, Emergency, and Mass Casualty Situations (MCS) which provides professionals worldwide with practical knowledge that they go on to implement in their home institutions and nations.
The Czech delegation concluded their visit with a tour of the Sammy Ofer Fortified Underground Emergency Hospital and its Command and Control Center.
