A delegation of 21 senior emergency medicine, rescue and civil-defense officials from Latin America and Spain visited Israel last week for a professional workshop focused on emergency medical response and the management of mass-casualty incidents.
The group included representatives from Spain, Mexico, Panama, Peru, Argentina, the Dominican Republic, Bolivia, Chile and Honduras. Among them were senior officials from national emergency systems, including Panama’s civil-defense director, senior 911 officials, Honduras’ deputy emergency minister and the head of emergency services in Argentina’s Neuquén province.
(Photo: Alon Shpigel)
The visit was organized under the Foreign Ministry’s Project 545 in cooperation with Magen David Adom and was intended to expose participants to Israel’s emergency medicine systems and encourage professional exchanges with their counterparts abroad.
At MDA’s national headquarters in Ramla, the delegation toured the 101 emergency dispatch center and received briefings on how calls are processed, teams are dispatched and large-scale incidents are managed in real time.
The officials also visited MDA’s blood services laboratories and the national human milk bank before attending training sessions at the organization’s simulation center.
There, they examined how Israeli emergency teams are trained, practiced with simulation systems and heard about procedures developed for mass-casualty incidents and lessons drawn from large-scale emergencies.
The delegation was also shown emergency vehicles used by MDA, including intensive-care buses capable of treating and evacuating seven seriously injured patients, off-road Unimog vehicles, emergency motorcycles and mobile command vehicles.
(Photo: Alon Shpigel)
(Photo: Alon Shpigel)
MDA briefed the visitors on the work of its approximately 39,000 employees and volunteers during routine emergencies and wartime, as well as on the organization’s fleet of five helicopters operating around the clock.
The group also received a briefing from the Health Ministry on the Israeli health system during routine operations and emergencies.
Their itinerary included Ichilov Hospital in Tel Aviv, the site of the Nova music festival massacre and Barzilai and Soroka hospitals in southern Israel.
At MDA’s station in Sderot, the delegation heard about the organization’s operations during the October 7 attack and met the family of MDA paramedic Amit Mann, who was killed by terrorists while treating wounded people in Kibbutz Be’eri.
The group later visited MDA’s Jerusalem station, where participants met national-service volunteers from different communities and examined a mobile command vehicle used to coordinate emergency teams during complex incidents.
Irit Savion, head of the Foreign Ministry’s Israeli Center for International Cooperation and Assistance, said the workshop was part of a long-running partnership between MASHAV, Israel’s international development cooperation agency, and MDA.
“The arrival of senior emergency officials from Latin America and Spain for professional training in Israel is an important milestone in strengthening bilateral relations and emergency preparedness,” she said.
Savion said participants were expected to apply some of the tools they had encountered after returning to their countries. She added that many were already familiar with MDA’s work abroad before arriving in Israel.
“Many participants noted that they were familiar with MDA’s activities in their countries even before they arrived, and that the direct experience in Israel was especially meaningful, particularly at this time,” she said.
Luis René Suazo, deputy minister of Honduras’ Permanent Contingency Commission, COPECO, said the visit had given his delegation practical examples they hoped to adapt at home. “Coming to Israel was truly an enriching experience,” Suazo said. “Seeing firsthand what world-class practices look like inspired us to think about what we can achieve in our own country.”
“We are very pleased and grateful for this opportunity and look forward to taking all this knowledge back home and putting it into practice,” he added.
(Photo: Alon Shpigel)
Jorge A. Morales, medical director of Catalonia’s emergency medical services system in Spain, said the most valuable part of the visit was the opportunity to compare the challenges faced by different prehospital emergency systems.
“It has been a great experience to be here in Israel and to have the opportunity to learn directly from Magen David Adom,” Morales said. “What I valued most was not only seeing how MDA operates, but also having very open and practical discussions about the challenges we face in prehospital emergency medicine.”
“Coming from Catalonia’s emergency medical services system, and meeting colleagues from other systems in Latin America and Spain, it is very interesting to compare experiences and perspectives and understand how much we can learn from one another,” he said.
MDA Director-General Eli Bin said the organization viewed international professional exchanges as a way to share lessons accumulated during both routine operations and emergencies.
(Photo: Alon Shpigel)
“The knowledge and experience Magen David Adom has accumulated over the years, in routine and emergency situations, are an important resource,” Bin said.
“We see great importance in sharing our capabilities and experience with emergency medical systems around the world, while at the same time learning from one another and building long-term professional partnerships.”
Bin thanked the Foreign Ministry for organizing the visit and said MDA intended to continue cooperation with emergency and rescue organizations overseas.
The workshop was part of ongoing cooperation between the Foreign Ministry and MDA. The organizations said some members of the delegation had previously participated in professional programs with MDA and that further exchanges were expected after the participants return home.