Israeli Covid team arrives in Italy for specialist care

A TEAM of 19 Israeli healthcare professionals from Tel Aviv’s Sheba Medical Center has arrived at the Michele e Pietro Ferrero hospital at Verduno, near Cuneo, in Italy’s north-western Piedmont region. The delegation will spend two weeks working with their Italian colleagues at the hospital, which now specialises in research and treatment of Covid-19.

The seven doctors and 12 nurses are led by Professor Elhanan Bar On, who runs Sheba’s Center for Disaster Medicine and in January this year was instrumental in building Israel’s first Covid isolation unit.

The team includes specialists in treating intensive care patients as well as experts in emergency health situations and logistics.

The mission came about after the Piedmont region’s president, Alberto Cirio, contacted the Israeli Embassy in Rome with an urgent request for help to cope with the rising numbers of Covid-19 cases and the shortage of medical personnel and equipment.

The embassy helped the two countries’ health ministries to co-ordinate the action, which was also facilitated by the respective foreign ministries.

The intervention follows an intense virtual co-operation between the two countries during the first wave of the pandemic when scores of online seminars were conducted with hospitals in Italy’s virus epicentre, the Lombardy region. “We learnt a lot about the virus from them,” said Professor Arnon Afek, associate director general of the Sheba Medical Center, which has financed the health mission to Piedmont.

Sheba’s first international delegation since the start of the pandemic will, as Professor Afek acknowledges, provide practical help to the Italian health professionals, but also offer the opportunity to study and learn how to deal with the second wave, which has hit Italy particularly hard.

T h e P i e d mont mission is just the latest in a number of examples of medical cooperation between Italy and Israel with a common aim: the defeat of Covid-19.

Another case of particular significance is the joint research currently taking place between Florence’s Careggi Hospital, the Ente Toscana Life Science and the Israeli Institute for biological Research. The research focuses on the processing and cloning of monoclonal antibodies to find a treatment for Covid-19.

As Alon Ushpiz, director general of the Israeli Foreign Ministry, explains: “Israel and Italy are allies and have a strong bond so it’s natural that Israel is willing to help Italy in her time of need.”

The Piedmont mission is the latest in a number of examples’