MDA shares mass-catastrophe know-how

With Israel so experienced in coping with terrorist attacks and mass catastrophe events, Magen David Adom hosted doctors and paramedics from eight countries here last week to learn from its experience.

The participants are from hospital staff in Burgas, Bulgaria, where a terror attack at the airport killed five five Israelis last July, and also from England, Italy, the Czech Republic, Australia, the US, Haiti and South Africa.

Those from Bulgaria met the Israelis from that attack that they had treated in their own hospital.

They were briefed on the country’s medical emergency system, how to train volunteers for emergencies and the treatment of trauma. The guests viewed a mass-catastrophe drill, studied an emergency simulator at Assaf Harofeh Medical Center in Tzrifin and viewed a display of MDA vehicles. The foreign visitors also accompanied MDA teams on a mobile intensive care unit to see paramedics cope with emergencies in the field.

An emotional encounter took place between Daniel Fahima, who is still hospitalized for rehabilitation at Sheba Medical Center near Tel Aviv after suffering severe wounds in Burgas, and Dr.

Aristo Dimitrov Yurakov, a Bulgarian traumatologist who took care of victims of the attack.

Amit Kosa, who was hurt in the same attack along with her mother, also came to the meeting at Sheba. They praised MDA, which had immediately send a medical team to Burgas to treat the wounded and bring them back home.

MDA director-general Eli Bin said that since Israel is so experienced in the field, it felt obligated to share its know-how with other countries, as any country can be hit by terrorism.