Makassed Hospital in Jerusalem Celebrates the Graduation of 28 Specialist Doctors and the Silver Jubilee of the Medical Specialty Training Program

  • East Jerusalem – 20 November 2014
    Makassed Charitable Islamic Hospital celebrated the silver jubilee of its medical specialty
    training program under the sponsorship of the Bank of Palestine, during which 28 specialist
    doctors graduated, the program’s 25th wave of graduates over the same amount of years. The
    ceremony took place in the presence of the Head of the Presidential Office Dr. Hussein Al
    Araj, representing Presid1ent Mahmoud Abbas, the Governor of the city of Jerusalem Mr.
    Adnan Al Husseini, the Governor of the cities of Ramallah and Al Bireh Dr. Laila Ghannam,
    and a number of current and former ministers, highly regarded personalities, presidents of
    universities and deans of their faculties of medicine, and many doctors and former graduates
    of the program.
    In his welcoming speech, the Chairman of the Board of Maqassed Islamic Charitable Society,
    Dr. Arafat Hidmi, welcomed the President’s representative to the graduation ceremony and the
    attendees, adding that “Makassed is proud of its twenty-five years of specialty training
    program, during which time the Hospital offered the nation a handful of the most qualified
    and efficient medical staff in nine certified disciplines: internal medicine, general surgery,
    pediatrics, obstetrics and gynecology, orthopedics, anesthesiology, radiology, in addition to
    two new disciplines which were recently recognized by the Palestinian Medical Board,
    namely neurosurgery and heart surgery.”
    Dr. Hidmi said that “Makassed Hospital is considered a success story for this steadfast
    people”, noting that “the successive administrative boards developed and improved the
    Hospital’s services, turning it into the main referral hospital for the whole of Palestine, and an
    outstanding teaching hospital for medical students at Palestinian universities, particularly the
    University of Jerusalem”.
    In turn, speaking on behalf of his fellow graduates, Dr. Mohammed Mer’i said: “I thank the
    professors and doctors at Makassed Hospital who persevered in their task of educating and
    training us, and who bore the burden of work and education, and I would like to pay tribute to
    our distinguished Makassed, still standing tall despite the siege and occupation it faced since
    it was founded in the Holy land.”
    The ceremony, which was held on the stage of the Palestinian Red Crescent Society in Al
    Bireh, also honored the former directors of Makassed Hospital, along with a group of
    distinguished doctors, with current Makassed CEO Dr. Rafiq Husseini saying that the
    Palestinian people are now fully aware that the occupation of Jerusalem has become today
    more brutal and arbitrary, and that it is very difficult to achieve what we have aspired to all
    along and which is Jerusalem becoming the political capital of the Palestinian State, adding:
    “However, we hope that the Palestinian National Authority will adopt Jerusalem as the
    medical capital of Palestine, and the hospitals of Jerusalem will remain to have priority over
    referrals and the payment of dues.”
    1
  • Among the honorees were Dr. Riad Za’noun, the first Minister of Health in the
    Palestinian government, the late Dr. Mustafa Abdel Shafi, one of the first chairmen of
    the Department of Surgery at Makassed, Dr. Sami Khoury, one of the leading surgeons
    in Palestine, and a number of doctors from the first generation of specialists at
    Makassed Hospital, including Dr. Amin Al Khatib (Community leader), Dr. Nabih
    Muammar (first Director), Dr. Darwish Nazzal (Director and prominent cardiologist),
    Dr. Tawfiq Shakshir (Director and prominent surgeon), Dr. Emile Jarjou’i (MP and
    prominent pediatrician, Dr. Amin Majaj ( Director and ex-Jordanian Health Minister)
    Dr. Eric Fosse chairman of NORWAC (Norwegian NGO that supported medical
    training at Makassed Hospital) in addition to honoring the late Faisal Husseini (leader
    and head of PLO HQ in Jerusalem Orient House), and Zaki Al Ghoul, the deposed
    mayor of East Jerusalem.
    Dr. Husseini went on to present Mr. Hashim Shawa, the Chairman of Bank of Palestine,
    which is sponsoring the event, with a shield of honor. Mr. Shawa, in turn, praised the
    leading role of Makassed Hospital since its inception, and what this Jerusalemite edifice
    represents in terms of steadfastness and defiance in the Holy City, pointing out the
    blessed efforts of the Hospital’s doctors and Makassed’s leading medical achievements
    nationwide. He also called upon all concerned bodies to provide more support to Makassed
    Hospital and its staff in order to ensure the Hospital’s continuity and to bridge the fiscal
    deficit it has been suffering from in recent years.
    For his part, the medical director and program coordinator for the training of doctors, Dr.
    Bassam Abu Libdeh, spoke of the history of the specialty training program, which began in
    1988, adding that “the program graduated its first wave in 1990, and I was one of those
    graduates majoring in Pediatrics, a specialization recognized by the Jordanian Medical Board,
    along with four other disciplines. When the Palestinian National Authority was established,
    the Palestinian Medical Board went on to certify four new specializations.” Dr. Abu Libdeh
    noted that 329 specialist doctors have graduated from the program over twenty-five
    years, and they are all distinguished and highly competent, working at hospitals all
    around the nation, with some of them holding top positions.
    The ceremony included the presentation of a short film titled (Makassed Hospital in
    Jerusalem: Continuous Development amid Constant Challenges), recounting the Hospital’s
    stories of success and resilience since its inception and until today, and speaking of the heavy
    burden laid on Makassed’s shoulders in order to provide the best medical services to the sick
    and wounded, especially in the recent period which has seen an escalation of events in
    Jerusalem and its suburbs, in addition to admitting eighty injured Palestinians as a result of
    the Israeli attack on the Gaza Strip last summer.
    A group of children from the National Institute of Music then went on stage to give an artistic
    performance, which won the admiration of the audience.
    At the end of the ceremony, diplomas and shields of honor were distributed to the 27
    graduating doctors, nine of whom were women, who have completed the medical specialty
    training program in 2014:
  • Department of General Surgery: Dr. Mohammed Mer’i, Dr. Fadi Hurani, Dr. Samir Abu
    Yacoub, Dr. Othman Abu Hantash.
    Department of Internal Medicine: Dr. Shaker N’airat, Dr. Mahmoud Abu Issa, Dr. Razan
    Malhis, Dr. Samah Abdeen, Dr. Saed Atawneh, Dr. Waddah Abed.
    Anesthesiology: Dr. Issa Musa, Dr. Mohammed Tahayna;
    Radiology Department: Dr. Wissam Aqtit;
    Orthopedic Department: Dr. Mamoun Mansour, Dr. Mohammed Al Qadi, Dr. Mahmoud
    Mubaslat;
    Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology: Dr. Muhannad Hawi, Dr. Nathalie Ouaina, Dr.
    Hanadi Da’na, Dr. Ibtisam Abu Rmeis, Dr. Alaa Hamad;
    Department of Pediatrics: Dr. Reem Omran, Dr. Samer Abdel Razek, Dr. Layali Joudeh, Dr.
    Mona Sharaf, Dr. Jamila Bsisso;
    Department of Pediatric Surgery: Dr. Radwan Abu Karsh;
    Department of Urology: Dr. Mohammed Nader Hamdan.

Check Also

نجاح أول عملية زراعة كلية في مستشفى المقاصد

القدس المحتلة. بنجاح مبهر وجهود متكاملة، وللمرة الأولى في مستشفى المقاصد المقدسي، سجلت وحدة الكلى …

© Al Makassed Hospital all rights reserved 2023