Negev Beduin learning how to save lives through MDA

Together, they will reduce the number of accidental deaths in the Beduin community and provide immediate medical help for those who need it.

By JUDY SIEGEL-ITZKOVICH
PARTICIPANTS IN Magen David Adom’s first course for emergency medicine providers for the Negev Beduin community pose yesterday at the MDA’s Beersheba branch. (photo credit: MDA)
PARTICIPANTS IN Magen David Adom’s first course for emergency medicine providers for the Negev Beduin community pose yesterday at the MDA’s Beersheba branch.
(photo credit: MDA)
Twenty-five Negev Beduin, including three women, are participating in a Magen David Adom course for emergency medicine organized with cooperation from the Beduin Development and Settlement Authority in the Ministry of Agriculture.
After graduation, they will be licensed as MDA emergency medicine medics and ambulance drivers and will work for the first-aid and ambulance organization in Beduin communities. The course is being held in MDA’s Beersheba branch and includes 200 hours of studies.
Authority director Yair Ma’ayan said that it is advancing simultaneously three projects to save Beduin lives: one to prevent home accidents through the Beterem organization; another to prevent road accidents with the Or Yarok organization; and opening the medics and ambulance drivers’ course.
Together, they will reduce the number of accidental deaths in the Beduin community and provide immediate medical help for those who need it. The accident rate, at home and on the roads, is relatively high among Beduin residents of the Negev and Galilee.