Two Hadassah Medical Organization (HMO) pediatric cardiac surgeons, Dr. Eli Milgalter and Dr. Bishar Marzooka, just collaborated to repair the heart of a four-year-old boy from the Jerusalem suburb of Shuafat.
Collaboration is not so unusual in surgery–except that Milgalter is a Jewish surgeon from Jerusalem, and Marzooka is a Palestinian surgeon who comes through the daily checkpoints from Bethlehem.
On a daily basis, they work together to repair the most seriously flawed children’s hearts. It’s not unusual to find Dr. Milgalter operating, while Dr. Marzooka is assisting and vice versa.
This time their patient is Haythain Oditllah. Three months ago, Haythain’s mom took him to the doctor because he had a fever. The examination revealed a heart murmur caused by a huge hole in his small heart. These two surgeons repaired it successfully.
It’s not unusual to find Arabs and Israelis working together in a professional capacity at the Hadassah Medical Organization. At Hadassah, political ideologies and beliefs are put aside, and left outside its doors. The mutual goals are in caring for a patient, and in providing the highest professional care possible.
