JAPAN: Israeli doctors and nurses become the first in Japan to be given dispensation from red tape that prevents foreign doctors from helping disaster survivors

Record ID: 397187

  • Title: JAPAN: Israeli doctors and nurses become the first in Japan to be given dispensation from red tape that prevents foreign doctors from helping disaster survivors
  • Date: 7th April 2011
  • Summary: MINAMISANRIKU, MIYAGI PREFECTURE, JAPAN (APRIL 6, 2011) (REUTERS) EXTERIOR OF DAMAGED HOSPITAL HOSPITAL SIGN MORE OF DAMAGED HOSPITAL EXTERIOR OF TEMPORARY MEDICAL CENTRE OF ISRAELI TEAM "I.D.F - MEDICAL CENTER ISRAEL" SIGN ISRAELI AND JAPANESE FLAGS FLYING WOMAN BEING HELPED TO WALK INTO MEDICAL CENTRE DOCTORS LOOKING AT PATIENT WOMAN LYING ON BED DOCTORS TALKIN
  • Embargoed: 22nd April 2011 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Japan, Japan
  • Country: Japan
  • Topics: Disasters / Accidents / Natural catastrophes
  • Reuters ID: LVA5NMHELTTCPL3ELBO7LXEQCYFX
  • Story Text: A team of doctors and nurses from Israel were given exception from medical red tape, and were allowed to treat Japan's earthquake and tsunami survivors without holding licenses.
    They set up a temporary hospital in Minamisanriku, a fishing town in devastated Miyagi prefecture.
    With Minamisanriku's local general hospital destroyed in the massive quake and tsunami and local doctors overwhelmed with treating wounded survivors, medical care for other patients has been put aside.
    The Israeli team reached out to patients suffering chronic illness that require long-term care.
    The 30-member team includes 14 medical specialists and seven nurses, who operated from a clinic equipped with an x-ray lab, ultrasonic scanner and eye examiner.
    The team has various specialisations and have performed surgical procedures and advanced treatment from the clinic. They have given medical services to 168 patients since they opened the temporary hospital nine days ago.
    Their medical services include intensive care, internal medicine, gynecology and orthopedics.
    Their participation has made Japanese medical history, as they were the first in Japan to treat patients without domestic licenses.
    "We are making history now as we're the first ones in Japan to treat patients without Japanese licenses. But I think as long as there are sick people, we have to put aside all the rules in order to treat patients and to help each other because no country in the world can do it alone. We must do it together," said Colonel Ophir Cohen, the head of the Israeli medical team.
    Cohen's daily schedule also involves visiting houses of elderly or bed-ridden patients who need special care.
    On Wednesday (April 6) he visited Fumiko Onodera, an 85-year-old who developed a tumor on her neck a year ago. Fumiko's family said the Japanese doctor who used to take care of her could not visit her anymore as he dealt with a flood of patients after the quake.
    "I wanted her doctor to come and see her one more time, but I only heard from him that he's very busy with other patients, and we could never see the him again," Onodera's daughter-in-law Aiko said.
    With help from a Japanese general doctor and interpreter, Cohen examined Onodera's tumor and collected tissue samples to take to their mobile laboratory.
    Dumbfounded at first upon seeing a doctor of a different skin colour, Onodera said she was satisfied with Cohen's service.
    "I'm very grateful that they came to me from a foreign country," Onodera said.
    The team's spokesperson said they will hand over all the equipment and supplies they brought to Japan to local medical workers after they leave Minamisanriku on Monday (April 11).
    Israel boasts of an advanced healthcare infrastructure and state-of-the-art techonology for medical treatment
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