by Lilach Shoval and Israel Hayom Staff
IDF field hospitals provide complex inpatient and outpatient care as well as multiple types of "specialized care," earning them the World Health Organization's top designation • Meanwhile, U.S. military company, Givati Brigade hold joint exercise.
A military field hospital
drill in northern Israel [Archive]
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Photo credit: Michel Dot Com  |
The World Health Organization has recognized
the Israeli Defense Forces' field hospital standards and medical teams
as the best in the world, Lt. Col. Ofer Merin, commander of the IDF's
Medical Corps' field hospital unit, announced Sunday.
The IDF's field hospitals have been designated as Type 3 facilities, WHO's highest ranking, he said.
Israeli medical aid missions, led by Homefront
Command and Medical Corps personnel, are regularly sent overseas to
assist countries struck by natural disasters, including after the 2010
earthquake in Haiti, the 2011 earthquake in Japan, and the 2015
earthquake in Nepal.
The World Health Organization recently
evaluated military field hospital standards and teams from more than 50
countries. In a 100-page report, the organization details the standards
field hospitals must meet to receive its designations: Type 1 facilities
provide outpatient initial emergency care, Type 2 facilities provide
inpatient acute care as well as general and obstetric surgery, and Type 3
facilities provide all these, as well as complex inpatient intensive
and referral surgical care.
The IDF's field hospitals were also recognized
for providing multiple types of "specialized care," effectively setting
their designation as "Type 3 plus" -- a status no other medical team
has ever reached.
According to Merin, the organization "wanted
to show that sending aid missions means meeting certain standards. It
may sound trivial, but anyone familiar with disaster areas knows this
determination carries tremendous significance.
"Over the past few years, the WHO has seen
considerable gaps between organized missions that arrive at a [disaster]
area, understand its needs, and provide the correct assistance, and
missions that fall short and effectively become a liability."
A WHO mission arrived in Israel recently to observe and evaluate field hospital training.
"One of them said the world has a lot to learn
from Israel when it comes to medical ethics, and that was a very moving
moment," Merin said.
"The IDF is a leader in this field, and the
world can learn from it on how to provide surgical care under disaster
conditions. This is a massive national success, and an objective body --
and they're not necessarily our biggest fans -- that has evaluated
dozes of field hospitals has declared the IDF's Medical Corps is the
best. It's a huge national pride."
IDF Medical Corps personnel will receive
official WHO patches noting their new designation. Senior personnel,
including Merin, will receive the patches at a formal ceremony scheduled
to take place in Hong Kong in late November, the IDF said.
Meanwhile, the close military cooperation
between Israel and the United States was again illustrated Sunday in a
joint exercise between a U.S. military company and the IDF's Givati
Brigade.
The American troops, stationed on a U.S. base
in Germany, arrived in Israel over the weekend and joined the Israeli
infantry troops for a cross-discipline exercise, which included tunnel
warfare, urban warfare, and medics' training.
"We showed them many of the techniques the
brigade and the IDF has developed to deal with the tunnel threat," Maj.
Alon Fazer told Israel Hayom. "We discovered we had a lot to learn from
each other."
Lilach Shoval and Israel Hayom Staff
Source: http://www.israelhayom.com/site/newsletter_article.php?id=37971
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