Syrian–Emirati Medical Readiness Forum Strengthens Emergency Care Training In Damascus

The Syrian–Emirati Medical Readiness Forum ended at Damascus Hospital after three days of activities, bringing together more than 200 doctors, nurses, paramedics and technical staff from hospitals linked to the Ministries of Health, Higher Education and the Police, as part of a long-term plan to strengthen medical readiness and upgrade emergency and disaster response across Syrian health facilities.

The forum is one element of a broader strategy to train 10,000 healthcare workers in Syrian hospitals over five years, following a unified curriculum that holds international accreditation, and is implemented through the Syrian–Emirati Medical Readiness Program Jaheziya Syria, under an agreement between the Ministry of Health and Al Wataniya for Training to manage and operate the programme.

Organised by the Jaheziya Syria Program and Al Wataniya for Training (Tadreeb), and accredited by the European Centre for Disaster Medicine, the forum used lectures, workshops, tabletop exercises and live simulations based on real incidents to test participants, with the aim of raising hospital preparedness and improving how medical teams deal with mass casualties, crises and sudden emergencies.

During the event, partners announced accredited medical training centres dedicated to emergency medicine, disaster medicine and crisis management at the Syrian Board of Medical Specialties, Damascus Hospital and the Field Hospital, each centre equipped with audiovisual systems and specialised training tools, designed to support consistent skills development and align medical readiness standards with international best practice.

The new centres and the forum itself are part of joint Syrian–Emirati efforts under the Medical Readiness Program Jaheziya Syria to reinforce the national healthcare system, so hospitals can react faster to emergencies and disasters, while also creating a structured pathway for continuous training, evaluation and certification of frontline professionals in Syria and, through cooperation, in the wider region.

Adel Al Shamry Al Ajmi, Chief Executive Officer of the Zayed Giving Initiative and the UAE Medical Readiness and Response Program Jaheziya, said the forum will be held periodically in Syria and the UAE to exchange expertise in emergency medicine, intensive care and surgery. He noted that more than 200 professionals were trained during the current session under an internationally accredited curriculum, adding that the five-year programme includes advanced simulation-based training and the preparation of national trainers.

Iyad Baath, President of the Syrian Board of Medical Specialties and Ministry of Health representative in the programme, said the initiative focuses on building human capacity and qualifying specialised medical personnel to improve the speed and effectiveness of responses to health crises. He stressed that investment in readiness begins with developing human capital as the first line of defence.

Asaad Sharaf Al-Din, President of Syrian Physicians, said the programme aims to qualify around 10,000 frontline healthcare workers through a scientific methodology focused on building sustainable national capacities. Al Anoud Al Ajmi, Executive Director of Al Wataniya for Training, said the forum reflects efforts to enhance regional and international cooperation in healthcare development, raising the efficiency of medical personnel, ambulance teams and civil defence, and improving responses to health emergencies across Syrian hospitals.

With inputs from WAM