The launch of the second phase of the Syrian-Emirati Medical Preparedness and Response Program in Damascus

The second phase of the Syrian-Emirati program for medical preparedness and response, “Syrian Readiness,” was launched today at Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Field Hospital in Damascus.

The second phase of the program, which lasts for three months, includes preparing certified national trainers and qualifying Syrian and Emirati experts to manage specialized programs, establishing medical training centers and building reserve teams within a unified system of preparedness and response, which adopts an international training curriculum developed in cooperation with the Readiness Academy, the European Center for Disaster Medicine, and specialized institutions from the Emirates, the United States, and Europe.

The launch of the second phase comes after the success of the first phase, which witnessed the training of more than 400 front-line workers from hospital staff, the ministries of health and higher education, the police and the army, under the supervision of Syrian, Emirati and European experts.

Director General of the Syrian Commission for Medical Specialties, Dr. Iyad Baath, said that the program was launched in a pilot phase, during which 200 healthcare professionals were trained, and a joint committee was formed between the Ministry of Health and the Readiness Academy to supervise the management of the program and develop national cadres capable of ensuring the sustainability of training and improving the readiness of hospitals and emergency response teams.

For his part, the head of the “Syrian Readiness” program, Dr. Asaad Sharaf al-Din, confirmed that the program is being implemented within a five-year plan in accordance with international standards to enhance hospital readiness and raise the efficiency of the medical response to critical cases through advanced training and modern simulation techniques.

The CEO of the Emirates National Readiness Program, Dr. Adel Al-Shammari Al-Ajmi, pointed out that the success of the unified Emirati model for preparedness and response contributed to transferring the experience to sisterly and friendly countries, strengthening health partnerships, and attracting and qualifying Emirati and Syrian medical competencies as certified trainers, within a program that aims to train 20,000 specialized medical personnel in the two countries.