The George Washington University Medical Center and Physicians for Peace
End their Medical Training Initiatives in Eritrea

For the past eight years, Physicians for Peace and The George Washington University Medical Center, have been providing medical education and training, books and medical supplies to the country of Eritrea. Both have announced that due to a number of non-security related factors, they will no longer be working in Eritrea.

Beginning in 2002, Physicians for Peace sent dozens of medical training teams in the areas of surgery, pediatrics, nursing and other health care specialties to work shoulder-to-shoulder with Eritrea’s medical professionals to help them strengthen their health care system and increase their capabilities and their capacity to provide the best health care available to the people of Eritrea. During that time, more than $5,000,000 worth of medical supplies have been donated to Eritrea.

In 2007, The George Washington University Medical Center joined with Physicians for Peace and the Eritrean Ministry of Health to launch the ground breaking Partnership for Eritrea. This Partnership, , introduced pediatric, surgery and obstetric/gynecological residency programs at the Orotta School of Medicine in Asmara, the nation’s capital. Plans were underway to launch a residency training program in Internal Medicine in July 2010 followed by other disciplines. The first pediatricians graduated in Dec 2009, effectively more doubling the number of pediatricians available to provide care for Eritrea’s children. In the past three years, numerous renowned American educators and health care providers traveled to Eritrea as volunteer visiting faculty providing service, faculty development and sub-specialty training to the residents, students and staff.

“We have accomplished a great deal in Eritrea,” cited Dr. Jim Scott, Dean of The George Washington University Medical Center. “However, local conditions are such that we are compelled to pull back, hopefully temporarily, from our joint initiatives there. We respect Eritrea's culture of self reliance and need to have ownership. Though our departure is taking place a bit sooner than we would have liked, we believe that we have contributed significantly in establishing a solid ground for Eritrea's local capacity to take the program forward and develop it further. We are obviously disappointed to be leaving at this point in time, but we are assured by the Minister of Health there that they are committed to continuing the programs we started together. We are grateful to all of those US-based medical educators who have sacrificed much to make this program so successful. We are also grateful to the students and faculty at the Orotta School of Medicine and Hospital for their dedication and perseverance under challenging conditions.”

Referring to Eritrea’s fervent focus on self-reliance, Ron Sconyers, President and CEO of Physicians for Peace said that although the Partnership is dissolving, “the door is kept open for further collaboration in service and training should the Government of Eritrea invite us back. The medical providers in Eritrea have been most welcoming in our 8 years of working with them, and we have forged many long-term friendships that we hope will continue. ”

The US citizen medical staff on the ground in Eritrea began a measured withdrawal, in early May while transitioning the management and oversight of the post graduate medical education programs to the Minister of Health.