An Egyptian medical convoy which was dispatched to Eritrea last month jointly by the Ministry of Health and the Egyptian Agency for Partnership for Development (EAPD), affiliated to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, is back home. The Eritrean people on the public, official and media levels welcomed and valued the16-member Egyptian mission.
During its 10-day stay the Egyptian doctors saw some 800 patients and conducted 120 surgeries in various specialisations which ranged from general surgery, oncology and endoscopy to orthopaedic surgery and ophthalmology. Furthermore, 40 complex dentistry cases were treated. Members of the mission also delivered 38 lectures at universities and medical institutes in Asmara. A special department for dietary and endemic diseases was launched in Orota Hospital—one of the country’s largest hospitals—with the help of Egyptian doctors resident in Eritrea. This is the first such department in Eritrea.
The Egyptian visit was extensively covered by the Eritrean media. On the official level, the Eritrean Health Minister, Amina Nour Hussein heartily thanked the Egyptian ministries of health and foreign affairs as well as the EAPD and the embassies of Egypt in Asmara and Eritrea in Cairo for their efforts in organising this visit. Ms Hussein divulged that EAPD offered 20 medical training scholarships during 2015 to Eritrean doctors.
Watani International
10 December 2015