Dr Shafi Ahmed visited Gaza for the first time in January this year with Medical Aid for Palestinians to assess medical training in the beleaguered territory, and advise local teams on how this can be improved. However, for his most recent appearance in Gaza he didn’t even need to leave the confines of his Royal London Hospital operating theatre.
Last week, Dr Ahmed became the first surgeon to live-stream an operation in virtual reality, to students and medics around the world. Among those taking part were some of the doctors and students Dr Ahmed met on his recent MAP trip to Gaza, who donned virtual reality headsets to follow his procedure to remove cancerous tissue from a 78 year old colorectal cancer patient. MAP has recently delivered more of these headsets to Gaza.
Dr Ahmed has highlighted the potential for new technologies to help medics overcome the restrictions on movement and therefore access to medical training that they face in Gaza. The blockade and closure of Gaza places restrictions on the movement of doctors and students out of the territory, and therefore limits their exposure to medical training and skills development at hospitals in the West Bank and abroad.
This technology can help medics in Gaza communicate with people and get teaching and training from around the world.
Dr Ahmed believes that virtual reality tech may be one way to overcome these obstacles: “I have a huge interest in the use of technology in health education, and believe in Gaza it can be used to overcome the frustrations posed by the blockade,” he told MAP back in February. ”This technology can help medics in Gaza communicate with people and get teaching and training from around the world.”
Speaking to Middle East Monitor this week, Dr Ahmed said: “I’m so honoured and privileged that the Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank could join me last Thursday for the world’s first Virtual Reality operation and being an integral part of this world which has just become smaller.”
To read more about Dr Shafi Ahmed’s recent trip to Gaza with MAP, click here.