Doctors to be trained to help migrants

(ANSA) - Rome, May 4 - An Italian medical NGO, the International Health Observatory (OIS), on Wednesday presented a new program to train Italy's medical personnel to better handle newly arrived asylum seekers from Africa and the Middle East.
    The project fielded by the OIS is called Border Health Care and would train Italian and foreign doctors on immigration-related health issues.
    The OIS came up with it after a survey showed that 37.7% of Italian doctors aged under 40 also donate their time as volunteers, and 89% asked for more training in medical ethics.
    "We also want to coordinate medical presence in migrant reception centers, prioritizing the needs of women and children, in cooperation with the relevant ministries," said OIS scientific committee chair Giuseppe Petrella.
    "We need more bridges with Euro-Mediterranean countries," said Dr. Foad Aodi, president of the Association of Foreign Doctors in Italy".
    "We need more training for our doctors who are battling against time in countries such as Libya, Yemen, or Syria, and we also need to send more delegations of doctors to our countries of origin".
    "Italy is doing a great job and is an example to the rest of Europe," Aodi added.
    "But it can do more".