No pediatricians on tiny island
Photo: CD Bank
Israeli doctors to treat children from Nauru island
Foreign Ministry sending two Israeli pediatricians to one of smallest countries in world: Nauru Island in Pacific Ocean. With only 13,000 inhabitants, island has no pediatricians
The Foreign Ministry will send two Israeli pediatricians next month to one of the smallest countries in the world: The island of Nauru in the Pacific Ocean, whose area covers a mere 22 square kilometers (8.11 square miles) and contains 13,000 inhabitants.
The doctors, from the Haemek Hospital in Afula, were being sent by the Center for International Cooperation of the Foreign Ministry (MASHAV, according to its Hebrew acronym) and will be posted at the island’s only hospital for two months.
The decision to send the doctors was made after the manager of the Pacific affairs department of the Foreign Ministry, Michael Ronen, visited Nauru. During his visit he met with the tiny country’s Health Minister, who asked for aid in treating the children on the island, which has not pediatricians.
After the foreign ministry consulted with additional bodies active in Nauru, including the Australian and United States government, it was decided to send the two Israeli doctors.
“The gesture is being made in the framework of the friendship between Israel an the Pacific countries, which show consistent support for Israel, and this is our way of thanking them for that,” the Foreign Ministry said.
In the past, the ministry sent medical envoys to the Marshall Islands, the islands of Micronesia, and the Solomon Islands. Recently two Roentgen experts returned from the Palau islands.
