Norwac - The Norwegian Aid Committee

Oslo University Hospital has recently signed an agreement with the humanitarian organisation NORWAC regarding supporting the capacity building of Palestinian hospitals. The agreement was signed in the end of January by Deputy Director at Oslo University Hospital, Tove Strand, and the Head of Palestine Programmes for NORWAC, John Eivind Jensen (picture). The agreement applies to institutional cooperation between Oslo University Hospital, Norway's leading teaching hospital, and Al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza, as well as and Makassed Hospital in East Jerusalem - both which are the most important teaching hospitals in their geographic areas. Agreements between the respective hospitals were signed in Palestine during February. The primary aim of the cooperation is to send staff from the Norwegian Hospital to the Palestinian partner institutions for transfer of knowledge and experience, as well as contribute to structural development of teaching programmes at the hospitals. The needs for improving clinical skills are great, especially for the staff at Shifa who are living and working under the blockade of Gaza.

In cooperation with the Ministry of Health and Palestine Association of Nurses, NORWAC has started a pilot project for specialisation of nurses in Gaza. The objective of the project is to form the base for a long-term, sustainable specialisation programme. The training will be a six month intensive programme which aims to graduate 45 nurses within emergency and critical care for children and adults, as well as peri-operative care. The programme focuses on clinical skills, but will also include theoretical teaching. The candidates are requited from the public hospitals in Gaza and it is prioritised to have a gender balance among the candidates. The aim is also to have Norwegian specialist to contribute to parts of the programme.

On the image above: Erik Abild (NORWAC), Dr. Nasser Abu Shabaan (MOH-HRD, Director), Mohammad El-Magadma (President of Palestine Nursing Ass.)

NORWAC has been working with Imam Sadr Foundation, Tyr, Lebanon (ISF) for 25 years. The foundation started its work in South Lebanon in the 1960s with the objective of offering education and health services to poor families. Amongst other things, they are running a well renowned nursing college and several health clinics in the south. Rabab Sadr is the director of the foundation.

In 2007, NORWAC and ISF started a new cooperation in order to develop a programme for post graduate education in psycho-social health work. This represents groundbreaking work in Lebanon. 15 students were admitted, most of them nurses working in different organisations involved in this field. The programme has been managed by teachers from Imam Sadr Foundation and the specialist teachers have been Lebanese as well as two Norwegians; Psychiatrist Svein Staff and the nurse Venke Aarethun, specialised within psychological health.

Image: Rabab Sadr and the newly educated special nurses at ISF, Tyr

On December 24th 2009 Norwac Director General professor Erik Fosse met with the Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas in Bethlehem. The topic for the 30 minutes long meeting on the West Bank was health politics in Palestine.

Professor Fosse also had a meeting with the Deputy Speaker of the local Parliament in Gaza Ahmed Bahar discussing health and humanitarian issues in Gaza. The meetings took place during Erik Fosse's visit to Palestine at the end of December 2009. (Click images for larger view)

English translation: Erik Abild, NORWAC, Photos: John Eivind Jensen, NORWAC

In cooperation with NORWAC, Oslo University Hospital will contribute to increase the medical capacity in Palestinian hospitals in East Jerusalem and Gaza. In November, a delegation from Oslo University Hospital travelled to the area in order to learn about the needs and possibilities for cooperation.

English translation: Erik Abild, NORWAC
Laparoscopic surgery is well known in Norway, but at the Palestinian Makassed Hospital in East Jerusalem, they are just starting. Professional expertise from Oslo University Hospital, Ullevål, plays an important role in cooperation with the humanitarian organisation NORWAC.

Laparoscopy, the medical name of surgery done laparoscopically, requires expensive and specialised equipment. Earlier at Makassed Hospital, they did not have such equipment, but with the assistance of funds from NORWAC, the hospital now has the necessary equipment. Since 2008, they have received training in procedures and equipment, and they are now using it daily at the gynaecological department. Since January, there has been Norwegian doctors and nurses at Makassed for 8 weeks. They have primarily come from Ullevål hospital, but also one gynaecologist from A-hus hospital. Currently, they are doing follow-up work.

Fifteen years ago NORWAC started a project to raise the standard of the library at Shifa hospital in Gaza. In the late nineties it emerged as a good, modern library. Spacious rooms, a good book collection, a useful collection of journals, open to health professionals from outside the hospital, computer cataloging, Medline on CD-ROM, and more.

Then one problem came after the other: the second intifada, pressured economy, Israeli closure of Gaza, and – last but not least - the war last winter. Much has gone from bad to worse in Gaza. That goes for Gaza Health Sciences Library at Shifa also.

Image: Salim El Bast is Library Director of Bireh Public Library, one of Noursofts long-standing customers on the West Bank. To the left Erling Bergan from Librarians Union of Norway. He is in Palestine to get the rebuilding Gaza Health Sciences Library started.

The Lancet has corrected the inital Special Report Inside Gaza's Al-Shifa hospital,The Lancet, Volume 373, Issue 9659, 17 January 2009-23 January 2009, Pages 200-202, Mads Gilbert, Erik Fosse. The online The Lancet reference is: Volume 373, Issue 9663, 14 February 2009-20 February 2009, Page 546 doi:10.1016/S0140-6736(09)60204-X. The Special Report was corrected shortly after the initial publication.