International Medical Education Trust 2000-Palestine (IMET2000-Pal) celebrated the opening of its office in Ramallah on 11th of May, 2008 with the blessing of Dr Fathi Abu Moghli, the Minister of Health and the patronage of the Palestinian President Mahmoud Abas represented by his Information Technology Consultant, Dr Sabri Saidem. Leaders from the health education sector, including Dr Fathi Abu Moghli; the Minister of Health, Dr Hani Abdeen; the Dean of the School of Medicine, Alquds University, Dr Farouk Hammad, Dr Haitham El-Hassan, Dr Mamdouh Al-Aker, Dr Mahmoud Abu Mowis, Dr Hussne Makboul and Dr Anis Al-Hajjeh, IMET2000-PAL representative in Palestine attended the ceremony.
On the evening of 11th of May, Dr Zaben extended his warm welcome to doctors’, dentists’ and nurses’ leaders from all corners of Palestine on behalf of the IMET2000-Pal team. Following a brief introduction, he introduced the Chief Executive Officer of IMET 2000, Professor Colin Green. After Prof Green had addressed the audience, he outlined the strategic plan of IMET2000-Pal with postgraduate medical education development in Palestine as its focal point. “The system of health education needs lots of help and support and is at severe need” Dr Fathi Abu Moghli told the audience. He added, to overcome the difficulties, everybody needs to work together and bodies like IMET2000-Pal are needed to pull efforts together and support ongoing projects. Furthermore, Dr Sabri Saidam, representing the Palestinian President, said that “ e-learning technology is turning the globe into a small village, harnessing it to provide health professionals with the most updated knowledge is of great importance and will be endlessly supported by the Palestinian Authority”.
This ceremony recognized the completion of Phase I of the project, the opening of a Centre that includes 170-square-meter floor in the second floor HSBC building in the centre of the city of Ramallah. It includes offices for medical, dental, nursing and e-learning education officers who are taking full responsibility for running a state-of-the-art program of health education in Palestine. Easily viewed from the Municipality garden in Ramallah, the new office occupies a striking central position in the West Bank and provides a focal point for health professionals in Palestine.
