First
Burn Center To Be Created in Eastern Congo By Israel, US Aid
Groups
By
Joel Leyden
Israel News Agency
Jerusalem
---- February 25, 2010 …. The Israel nonprofit aid organization
Moriah Africa (an IsraAID member) has joined hands with Los Angeles
human rights organization Jewish World Watch and MASHAV, the Israel
Foreign Ministry aid arm, to establish a Burn Center in the Democratic
Republic of Congo.
The Center
will be housed in the large central government hospital in Bukavu,
a key city not only in eastern Congo but also in the wider Great
Lakes region.
In a country of 65 million people, where almost the entire population
continues to cook over open fires and constant insecurity acutely
limits access to medical care, burns and their crippling, disfiguring
after-effects are relatively widespread. Yet modern treatment
for basic burns and skin trauma is nonexistent. This burn center
will be the first ever established in Eastern Congo.
Working together with Rambam and Soroka hospitals in Israel, the
medical exchange effort has brought expertise and initiative together
for the purpose of expanding the surgical skill level and creating
a center for reparative plastic surgery for the Congolese population.
Combining
modern training, equipment, supplies, evaluation and follow-up,
the project is a multi-phase effort. With support from the partners
- Moriah Africa, Jewish
World Watch, and MASHAV- Rambam Hospital provided Phase I
training to a Congolese general surgeon, Dr. Leon Mubenga. Phase
II began on February 19, when Dr. Mubenga returned to DRC with
an Israel plastic surgeon specialist, Dr. Eldad Silberstein from
Soroka Hospital in Be'er Sheva.
Now in Bukavu, in addition to daily lecture sessions each morning,
Dr. Silberstein is currently training surgeons from six area hospitals
in reparative plastic surgery techniques via intensive surgical
intervention activity for more than eight hours each day. Surgeons
are divided into teams to have two surgical theaters in operation
simultaneously. Dr. Silberstein provides guidance, and with the
help of the new equipment, surgeons from the six area hospitals
are learning to practice their new skills. A transformation is
taking place, not only in terms of changed patients but also in
terms of changed surgeons.
These are the first steps in setting up the burn center. It is
an ongoing process that will continue to grow. Given the very
positive and productive beginning, Moriah Africa, Jewish World
Watch and MASHAV are looking forward to the next steps.
"As the word has spread, the numbers of new patients arriving
daily to the hospital here is astounding,” said Gila Garaway,
director of Moriah Africa. “I knew there was a problem but
had no idea how many maimed people have stayed hidden away. It
is a great gift to see this rich blessing unfolding here."
Tzivia Schwartz-Getzug, Executive Director of Jewish World Watch,
added: “We are proud to support this program that will also
help the doctors in Eastern Congo expand their expertise, and
make available modern equipment and treatment protocols that will
immeasurably benefit burn victims there for years to come.”
The mission of Moriah Africa is to stimulate and facilitate local,
regional, and national initiatives, with a focus on providing
expertise to support the realization of this vision through training
and training seminars, training materials for medical personnel,
agricultural experts, water and sanitation engineers, English
teachers, program designers and others. The effort has also included
financial support, supplies and equipment for schools, health
and training centers. Moriah Africa works through partnerships
with communities, Government Organizations, and Non-Governmental
Organizations.
Jewish World Watch, a Los Angeles-based human rights organization,
is a coalition of 64 synagogues working together to combat genocide
and other egregious violations of human rights worldwide.
Since its
founding five years ago, JWW has achieved significant success
within its three mission goals: education, advocacy and humanitarian
relief, having allocated almost $4 million in direct assistance
to the people of Darfur. It now begins a campaign to end the atrocities
in the Democratic Republic of Congo as well.
The
Israel News Agency,
which is accredited by Israel Government Press Office, was the
first on line news organization in Israel. The INA reaches up
to 60 million readers through Google News and Internet social
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