A delegation of Imams and leaders of francophone communities from Senegal, Cameroon, Ivory Coast, Benin and Togo visited Hadassah Hospital Ein Kerem on Monday, meeting with doctors and exploring possible cooperation avenues between their countries and Hadassah Medical Organization.

Director of the Kidney Transplantation Service at Hadassah, Dr. Abed Khalaileh welcomed the group and described the care patients receive at the service.

” Hadassah is not only an unusual hospital in the region, but stands out in the world. We will be visiting a Muslim woman who needed a kidney transplant and could not receive it from her family had ultimately received it from a Jewish woman in her fifties. In the complex situation we live in, there are still aspects that show how we can live together There is nothing more altruistic than a person giving part of their body to someone else.  Israel has the highest rate of altruistic donations in the world.”

Cheik Tidiane Gueye, the Senegal consul for technical cooperation spoke of the lack of transplant surgery in this country and told the story of his younger brother who traveled to Egypt for a liver transplantation. He invited Prof. Khaleila to visit Senegal and to share Hadassah’s experience of developing such a sophisticated and compassionate transplant service.

The group also met with Dr. Ahmad Nama, director of Emergency Medicine at the hospital who offered them a detailed explanation of trauma rooms and facilities used in the ER.

The participants expressed their thanks for the warm welcome and for learning so much about the Hadassah Medical Organization and medicine in Israel.

The tour was organized by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs .