Hadassah Experts Play Key Role in Israeli Humanitarian Delegation to North Macedonia
“The President’s Eyes Sparkled”: Israeli Medical Delegation Flies to Help with the Disaster in North Macedonia
The delegation consisted of 11 representatives from several hospitals and the Ministry of Health • Dr. Sarna Kahn documented the sense of mission and the rare and special moments during the three-day trip to the country • “I discovered a group of warm, brave and dedicated people who welcomed us in a way that really warmed and opened the heart”
Mitel Yasur Beit-Or
21/3/2025 Updated 22/3/2025
Photo: “I discovered a group of warm, brave, and dedicated people.” Members of the Israeli medical delegation to North Macedonia. (Hadassah Medical Organization Spokesperson).
Israel mobilizes for North Macedonia: After 59 deaths and some150 injuries were recorded in the nightclub fire in North Macedonia a few days ago, an official Israeli delegation from the Ministry of Health consisting of 11 representatives from several hospitals flew to North Macedonia to provide medical assistance.
The official Israeli delegation to North Macedonia includes Dr. Stav Sarna Kahn, Director of the Burns Unit at the Department of Plastic Surgery at Hadassah, and Dr. Yuval Meroz, Senior Anesthesiologist at Hadassah.
Dr. Sarna Kahn who, in times of routine, treats burns of various degrees in the Hadassah Burns Unit, during the “Iron Swords” War treated many wounded whose injuries combined severe burns and scars. In his scar clinic at the Gandel Rehabilitation Center at Hadassah Hospital Mount Scopus, he meets many soldiers whose treatment is long-term and requires plastic surgery, occupational therapy, and laser treatments for scars.
Dr. Sarna Kahn described the experiences of the delegation participants in North Macedonia, and documented the professional mission experience in personal notes:
First day of the trip
Daily update: Early in the morning, I left with a small delegation on behalf of the Ministry of Health to assist North Macedonia. Forty-eight hours before our departure, a fire broke out in a nightclub in the city during a performance by a famous local singer. The fire killed 59 people, and over a hundred people who suffered burns of varying degrees of severity were taken to hospitals. For this small country, this is the greatest disaster to have befallen them.
In coordination between the countries, it was decided to send assistance in the form of a treatment team, and I was asked by the Ministry of Health to participate in the Israeli delegation. We left with a small team of nine professionals, from several hospitals. Hadassah, Rambam, Soroka and Shaare Zedek. Today we did a partial mapping of the injured in the various hospitals and tomorrow we will begin in a more practical way to medically assess and treat them. The delegation is expected to spend several days in North Macedonia, assisting and advising on treatment.
“The teams were very happy with our professional help.” Representatives of the Israeli delegation in North Macedonia, Photo: Hadassah Hospital Spokesperson.
Second day of the trip
Daily update: The delegation team was divided between into three hospitals in the city, each of which treats burn and smoke inhalation patients. The team consists of a burn plastic surgeon, an anesthesiologist, an intensive care unit specialist, and a nurse. I went with an anesthesiologist from Shaarei Zedek to Central Hospital, the largest in the city, where the largest number of injured patients are being treated.
When we arrived at the hospital, we joined the ward staff and discovered a group of warm, brave, and dedicated people, who welcomed us in such a warm and generous way that it really warmed and opened our hearts. Their great appreciation of our arrival was palpable.
Starting with the morning meeting, we spent the day working shoulder to shoulder with them, mapping the patients in the various departments, a short morning visit and working in the operating room – where we performed several procedures on all the injured patients, including changing fresh dressings, dressings and splints. The teams were very happy with our professional help and our support in making decisions.
The extensive equipment that Hadassah donated was very important and helped significantly to make up the shortfalls that existed in the level of dressings and splints. The feeling is that there is definitely a way to help and be partners with the local teams in the treatment. Especially at this time, the sense of pride is enormous and it the fact that all members of the delegation stopped all their activities in Israel and rushed to join in helping another country was, for all of us, obvious.
Third day of the trip
Daily update: Today too, the teams split up among the three hospitals and we continued to monitor our patients, changing dressings, treating burns and performing procedures in the operating room.
After a full day in the hospital and operating rooms, we were invited for an official visit with the President of North Macedonia. Upon our arrival at the President’s residence, we went through all the official ceremonies and then sat down for a conversation with the President. I was privileged to meet a humble and kind woman who told me about her origins and connection to Judaism, and her eyes really sparkled when she thanked us and saw how moved she was by the humanitarian gesture and our decision to drop everything and come to help during a crisis considered to be the most serious the country had ever known.
How fitting that such a kind and humble people would be led by such a woman. From there we went to the Holocaust Museum, where we had a comprehensive tour and learned about the Jews of Macedonia and their glorious and sad past. It was at once a moving and strengthening experience. There is something about understanding the helplessness that the Jews experienced at that time compared to the power of Israel today, and, after all, such a delegation is part of that power.