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EmailNov. 14, 2006
Telehealth rounds with Middle East forges ahead despite regional unrest
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With national media in attendance, Baycrest hosted one of the most extraordinary international medical rounds on Nov. 8 with the Middle East.
An eruption of armed hostilities was unfolding in the region just as Canadian, Israeli, Jordanian and Palestinian doctors were linking up via videoconference from two continents for a presentation of a Parkinson’s-Mild Cognitive Impairment case.
The session was part of Toronto’s City-Wide Behavioural Neurology Rounds and sponsored by the University of Toronto. It was being delivered under the auspices of the Peter A. Silverman Global eHealth Program and the Canada International Scientific Exchange Program (CISEPO).
Moments before the 8:00 a.m.EST start, the Palestinian contingent at Al Quds University in the West Bank had to pull out of the telecast. The visual link stayed live, but showed only a darkened classroom. One of the Palestinian medical participants reported by cell phone a few minutes later that there was unrest in the area around the school and it was impossible for he and his colleagues to proceed safely to the classroom. Another report followed from Dr. Yehudah Roth, CISEPO’s director of the Israeli program. Speaking from the University of Tel Aviv, he had received news that his niece’s house had been hit by a Hamas rocket earlier in the day.
The regional unrest only strengthened the resolve of scientific and medical experts to stay the course and continue with the medical meeting and even plan topics for future medical rounds.
“There is a feeling among the leaders of this exchange that sharing medical knowledge has the potential to be a powerful component of the long-term peace-building process,” said Dr. Morris Freedman, head of the Division of Neurology at Baycrest and chairperson of the neurology rounds. For Baycrest, the telehealth collaboration is an opportunity to share expertise in neurological and psychiatric disorders with the global community.
The unlikely partnering of Arabs and Israelis in medical rounds is largely the result of Canada’s role as the “trusted facilitator”, explained Dr. Arnold Noyek, CISEPO founder and director of International Continuing Education, Faculty of Medicine, at the University of Toronto. “Our Canadian values and our experience through the years building cooperation across the Arab and Israeli divide tells us that the darkened classroom will eventually lead to a brighter day,” he promised.
“It was unfortunate that the Palestinians couldn’t get to their classroom because this marked the first time that connectivity was established inside the West Bank using CISEPO equipment,” said Baycrest telehealth coordinator Tim Patterson.
This equipment, along with videoconferencing facilities in Canada and the Middle East, was financed through an agreement among Baycrest, Mount Sinai Hospital, the University of Toronto’s Department of Public Health Sciences, and CISEPO. This created the Peter A. Silverman Global eHealth Program.
Following the telecast, Dr. Ziad Abdeen, CISEPO director of the Palestinian program and director of the Health Institute at Al Quds University, expressed regret that his group could not participate in the rounds, but looked forward to rejoining the next one in December.
These collegial meetings help to “break the ice” in a time of extreme regional tensions, said Dr. Ziad El Nasser of the Jordan University of Science and Technology, and CISEPO director of the Jordanian program.
Participants for the Nov. 8 medical rounds included Baycrest; the University Health Network; Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre; Edith Wolfson Medical Center-Tel Aviv University; Herzog Hospital; Jordan University of Science and Technology; Galil Center, Technion - Israel Institute of Technology; and Al Quds University.
This story was provided by Baycrest Public Affairs.
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