EUROPE/ITALY - Cooperation Agreement between Sant’Andrea Hospital in Rome and the State of Tigray in Ethiopia

Rome (Fides Service) - After providing courses of formation and renewal for medical personnel in Africa, commitment on the part of Sant’Andrea Hospital and the 2nd Faculty of Medicine and Surgery continues. A new children’s department will soon be opened at Quià hospital in the Tigray region.
Tomorrow 15 March at the Carlo Urbani Aula Magna, La Sapienza University in Rome, an agreement for international cooperation will be signed between Hansenian’s Ethiopia and Eritrea Welfare Organization (HEWO), the Tigray Health Bureau, the 2nd faculty of medicine at La Spaienza University Rome and the Sant’Andrea Hospital also in Rome.
Present for the occasion, the President of Ethiopia Ghirma Woldegiorgis and the President of Tigray State, Tsegay Berhe Madera.
The next important goal is to open a children’s department at Quià hospital, a town which lies north of Mekele. The hospital has 70 beds, a laboratory, a department for infective diseases and is better equipped than most hospitals in the area, which makes it an ideal place for training local medical personnel. The children’s department will have 16 beds for child/mother, in four wards. This agreement is part of a programme of collaboration in the past two years rich in scientific and human exchange which have helped to build a network of professional relations, strongly desired by the Sant’Andrea Hospital in Rome and teachers at the 2nd Faculty of Medicine.
So far the programme of cooperation has promoted courses of formation and renewal for health workers in public hospitals, in the fields of surgery, dermatology, laboratory medicine, paediatrics and radiology. (AP) (14/3/2005 Agenzia Fides; Righe:25; Parole:277)