Israel Sends Doctors, Supplies To Aid Tsunami Victims

From the UJA web site...

Israel Sends Doctors, Supplies To Aid Tsunami Victims:
By Leora Eren Frucht
December 29, 2004

Israeli doctors were among the first foreign medical personnel to reach Sri Lanka in the aftermath of Sunday's devastating tsunami that left thousands dead in that country alone.

'We got a phone call that we were needed, and three hours later we were at the airport,' said Prof. Avi Rivkind, head of both the Department of Surgery and Trauma Unit at Hadassah University Hospital, Ein Karem in Jerusalem. Rivkind flew to the battered country on Sunday night, along with three other Hadassah physicians, who specialize in rescue operations, trauma and pediatrics.

Israel had also mobilized some 150 army doctors and rescue and relief teams who were planning to set up a field hospital in Sri Lanka. The Sri Lankan government, however, declined that offer of help, leading Israel to reduce the scope of its planned humanitarian mission.

Instead the government sent a small number of Israel Defense Forces personnel to accompany an 82-ton planeload of relief supplies, including medicine, water, food, blankets, tents, nylon sheeting and electric generators. A plane that left overnight Tuesday to Sri Lanka contained 10,000 blankets, 3,680 liters of mineral water, 12 tons of food, 17.5 tons of baby food and over nine tons of medicine."

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