Doctor to Doctor: Order of
Malta helps tailor best practices in fight against Covid-19
 |
| The Order of Malta's "Doctor to Doctor" project provides experts with the opportunity to share information on the fight against Covid-19 |
Virologists, immunologists, ICU staff and government health
authorities get together online for sessions aimed at tackling the Covid-19
crisis in the best possible way for specific countries and situations.
By Linda Bordoni
The new coronavirus pandemic is global but challenges can be
very different from country to country.
That’s why the Order of Malta, that runs medical, social and
humanitarian projects across the world, has launched a project called “Doctor
to Doctor”. The initiative aims to help countries enduring occupation,
political unrest, widespread poverty or other situations exacerbating the
effects of the pandemic, to address the crisis in the best possible way.
High on its agenda is how the Covid-19 pandemic is impacting
conflict areas in some Middle Eastern countries where access to medical care
and distribution of sanitary items is scarce. Like in Palestine where social
distancing and isolation measures are problematic because of high population
density and the scarcity of Intensive Care Units.
Marianna Balfour, Diplomatic Public Affairs and Press
Officer at the Order of Malta, told Vatican Radio that so
far workshops have been convened or are scheduled for medical professionals in
Palestine, Yemen, Lebanon, Jordan and perhaps South Africa. During the online
meetings, they have the opportunity to ask questions and receive
specially-tailored advice from a pool of experts working in different fields of
the Covid-19 frontline.
Explaining that the “Doctor to Doctor” project was launched
in collaboration with the Diplomatic Department of the Order of Malta, Balfour
said that basically it “puts together in an online meeting, scientific experts,
doctors, virologists, immunologists from European countries that have been
dealing with Covid, (starting from Italy, but also from Germany and Ireland so
far), with Middle Eastern countries where there is a problem in population
density, refugee camps and so forth.”
Opportunity to share information and best practices
Balfour said the project is proving extremely interesting
because not only is it an opportunity to promote and to share the latest
knowledge on the management of the Covid-19 crisis from a medical point of
view, it's also very interesting and constructive because it provides
participants a forum in which to share and promote information regarding
necessary behavioural changes to contain the virus.
So far, she continued, especially for those who participate
from densely populated areas in the Middle East (like Gaza, Bethlehem,
Jerusalem), who are struggling to support vast numbers of refugees (Jordan and
Lebanon) or are dealing with the effects of conflict (Yemen), it's been
incredibly useful because it also provides extremely practical information:
“what to say to people; how to encourage people to wash their hands 10 times a
day; how to encourage people to use masks and to practice some form of social
distancing even in extremely difficult places, where it's very, very
challenging to do so.”
She said the project has been so successful, health
authorities and doctors in Palestine have asked for a third meeting, scheduled
to be held later this week.
Tailored for specific needs
Balfour also explained that the project has come to life in
collaboration with an English think tank called Forward Thinking that
works to promote an inclusive Middle East peace process and facilitates
political dialogue and understanding between the Arab/Muslim and Western
worlds.
She said the organisation organises the logistics, setting
up and moderating the meeting.
“It's an online, very interactive discussion,” she
concluded, stressing that “it’s not a conference, so people get to ask
questions and the doctors answer: It's very fitted for the specific country
with its specific needs.”
Founded in Jerusalem in 1113, the Sovereign Order of
Malta is a lay religious order of the Catholic Church. Today it is active in
120 countries, caring for people in need. It is especially involved in helping
those living in war-torn areas or struck by natural disasters, in caring for
refugees and distributing medicines and basic equipment for survival.
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