MDA israel

A delegation of medical staff from Japan including the CEO of the Agency for the Management of Medical Disasters, researchers, expert doctors and a public health experts arrived in Israel last week (Monday) to learn about the management of incident rooms and emergency situations during a crisis in the State of Israel.

During the visit held in collaboration with the Ministry of Health and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the members of the delegation learned about the health system in Israel, preparing for and handling emergency situations, treating victims in emergency situations, preparing for and dealing with natural disasters and preparing for national emergencies from a logistical aspect. The nine members of the Japanese delegation visited the Magen David Adom National Operations Center in Kiryat Ono, where they were given an overview by Guy Caspi, director of exercises and training at MDA – on management of emergency situations and inter-organizational cooperation. After that, Dedi Ofek presented the technologies used by Magen David Adom and the treatment procedure from receiving the call at the 101 Emergency Call Center until the arrival of the ambulance at an incident.

The Japanese medical team also visited the blood bank at Kiryat MDA in Ramla as well as the emergency operation center of the Ministry of Health. Towards the end of the visit to Israel, the 3rd Israeli-Japanese Conference on Disaster and Emergency Risk Management was held in Kiryat MDA in Ramla. The conference, which was broadcast in real time to hundreds of senior officials in the health system in Israel, was attended by representatives of Magen David Adom, representatives of the Ministry of Health and members of the Japanese delegation, who gave various lectures on disaster preparedness and management in Japan. The participants listened to a lecture by Prof. Eilat Shinar, MDA's Deputy Director General of Blood Services on emergency blood bank operations, and then took part in a tour of Magen David Adom's new blood bank in Ramla.

Prof. Eilat Shanar, MDA's Deputy Director General of Blood Services: "Meetings of this type are very important, they allow one to learn from each other's experience - and indeed we learned a lot from the lectures and methods of operation presented by the members of the Japanese delegation. During the seminars, we shared with the medical personnel, the members of the delegation, the extensive experience that the MDA has as Israel's National Rescue Organization in responding to emergency situations in Israel and especially to multi-casualty incidents. The members of the delegation were particularly interested in the new MDA Blood Services Center in Kiryat MDA in Ramla - built to ensure the safety and securtity of the blood supplies along with the safety of the workers in various emergency situations.'

Prof. Tatsuhiko Kubo, from the Department of Public Health at Hiroshima University, summarized the conference and said: "The professional week here in Israel gave the delegation a great deal of new knowledge. The visit was excellent and we wish to maintain this relationship. Thank you very much for inviting us, and please convey our appreciation to all the experts who accompanied us and the professional colleagues. A big thank you and huge appreciation.'