Bahraini Ambassador to Israel Khaled Yousif al-Jalahma visited the Palestinian clinic of Save a Child’s Heart at the Wolfson Medical Center on Tuesday along with Israeli Ambassador to Bahrain Eitan Na'eh, where children from the Palestinian Authority and Gaza are hospitalized.
"We will examine humanitarian cooperation between Israel and Bahrain for the first time," Jalahma said.
Save a Child's Heart works to bring children from around the world annually to undergo life-saving heart treatments in Israel. The two met a number of Palestinian children and parents who are being treated at the clinic and come once a week for evaluation and treatment.The ambassador also met with Wolfson Medical Center Director-General Dr. Anat Engel, Save a Child’s Heart chairman Yoram Cohen and executive director Simon Fisher to examine future humanitarian cooperation between the two countries since the signing of the Abraham Accords.
At the end of the meeting, the parties toured the new Sylvan Adams Children's Hospital, where they met the medical team including three Palestinian doctors from Gaza and two other doctors from Zambia and Ethiopia who are taking part in the Save a Child's Heart training program.
The visit ended with the ambassador meeting with dozens of children from Iraq, Myanmar, Zambia, Ethiopia, Uganda and Nigeria, after undergoing life-saving medical care in Israel.“I hear a lot about the humanitarian activity of Save a Child’s Heart and I am very happy to be here today to see the work first hand," Jalahma noted.
"I hope that this is the beginning of a very fruitful relationship between Bahrain and Israel in the medical field. I have heard of the work you do across the world. Working with you has become possible because of the Abraham Accords and we look to build on this. These kinds of programs are what will make our world a better place."“We are excited to meet the Ambassador and introduce him to Israeli humanitarian activities for children with heart disease from around the world, out of a genuine desire and faith to work for a better world," Fisher said.
"The Abraham Accords have opened up many opportunities for expanding the organization’s activities in Arab countries and Africa, and we hope that fruitful collaborations will be created as a result in order to save the lives of the children."