PALESTINE: Training of local staff in using endo-laparoscopy techniques

In collaboration with the Second University of Napoli
Objective: Improvement of the health status of the population of Palestine enhancing the diagnostic and therapeutic capacities of public hospitals in West Bank
The project activities are still ongoing: January 2014 – January 2017.
Financed by MAECI: € 747.200
The project is continuing with the activities and is consolidating the results of the first phase concluded in 2013, when basic laparoscopic techniques were introduced in some Palestine hospitals:
· Technical assistance for planning and organizing certified training paths benefitting doctors and other hospital professionals
· Technical assistance to the National Training Center of Jericho in Mini-invasive Surgery to make it a didactic center of excellence, utilizing virtual reality technologies, universally recognized as gold standard
· Theoretical and practical multimedia training on surgical and gynecologic laparoscopy, gastrointestinal endoscopy and hysteroscopy.
· Purchase of equipment for surgical and gynecologic laparoscopy, gastrointestinal endoscopy which were installed in the public hospital of Hebron, Jenin, Beit Jala and Jericho.
· Organization of scholarships at the Italian and International academic institutes of excellency
· Organization of a mission assigned to an Italian expert to develop and coordinate training activities in Palestine
· Organization of a final international conference on the scientific achievement of the projects.
Beneficiaries are the patients that can have access to the new high quality diagnostic and therapeutic services and about 50 professionals (doctors studying for specialty, specialized doctors, technician and health operators), who are acquiring new competences thanks to the intense training opportunities offered by the project both in Palestine and abroad in accordance to certificated guidelines.
Indirect beneficiary will be the whole West Bank population, which can now refer to a broader spectrum of quality diagnostic and therapeutic services, which shorten the waiting list. Moreover the techniques introduced by the project are low cost procedures; the patient will no longer have to refer to private hospitals or to “migrate” abroad for medical care and there will be a saving of resourceson behalf of the National Health Authorities. These benefits will continue even after the project ends.