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IDF Medical Team Head Discusses Japan Mission
(Ha'aretz) Anshel Pfeffer - Dr. Ofir Cohen Marom returned Tuesday from two weeks in Japan where he headed the IDF medical team sent there after the March 11 earthquake and tsunami. "The Japanese did not want to accept assistance from any country.... Luckily for us, the mayor of Kurihara volunteered in Israel years ago, and he is a good friend of our ambassador in Tokyo. This mayor decided to look after the fishing village of Minamisanriku, an hour's ride from Kurihara. The village was completely destroyed by the tsunami that struck after the earthquake and nearly half of its 10,000 residents died. The rest were left without shelter." "We set up a medical service that basically became the anchor for all the services in that area. After our arrival was approved, we realized that there was no need for trauma medicine but for medical treatment for the hundreds of thousands of people roaming around without a roof over their heads....In the first weeks there were hardly any medical services." "The delegation had 55 members, 30 medical personnel including 14 doctors, seven nurses, and nine medical logistics people, X-ray technicians and lab personnel. We brought a doctor from each relevant field - general surgery, ophthalmology, otolaryngology, internal medicine, gynecology, pediatrics and geriatrics - and we built a medical center there that treated patients and also provided digital X-ray services and a state-of-the-art lab for doctors already there." "Not all the Japanese liked the idea of our coming. The Japanese health system does not like people interfering, so we pretty much arrived against their will and at first they limited what we could do.... Day by day, the collaboration grew and deepened."