New partnership between Egypt, Rome and Australia to support healthcare for women and children
Australia’s Critical Care Research Group (CCRG) has announced a new partnership with Bambino Gesù Women’s and Children’s Hospital (Rome, Italy) and the Human Fraternity Foundation (Cairo, Egypt) to support the building of a new hospital and train the next generation of clinicians to support mothers, babies and pregnant women in Egypt. The tri-party agreement, believed to be the first of its kind, will see CCRG host Egyptian Research Fellows for two-year placements in Australia, fully funded by The Holy See.
CCRG Founder and Director Professor John Fraser said early and mid-career researchers from Egypt will journey to Brisbane to receive comprehensive training and mentorship from the Group’s world-renowned researchers, before returning home to establish a new hospital in Cairo, the first healthcare institution to be funded by the Catholic Church in Egypt.
“Since we started CCRG 20 years ago, one of our key tenets is to grow and develop the next generation of clinician scientists who will continue our goal of improving outcomes in the critically ill through the research translation of high quality. This new agreement with the Vatican and the Human Fraternity Foundation will allow us to learn and grow together between Egypt and Australia - hopefully with patients as the ultimate beneficiaries” said Professor Fraser.
“I was fortunate enough to learn from one of Egypt’s favourite sons Professor Sir Magdi Yacoub when I was a guest at his hospital in Aswan in 2019 and loved everything about Egypt. The possibility of being able to collaborate and assist even a little to this wonderful country is such an honour.”
Dr Matteo Di Nardo, Paediatric Anesthesiologist and Intensivist at the Ospedale Pediatrico Bambino Gesù (Baby Jesus Paediatric Hospital), Rome, was instrumental in securing funding for the new Egypt-based hospital, which will be an offshoot of the Vatican.
“We are honoured to finalise this agreement, four years in the making, when in Kraków last week and humbled to stand together with representatives of the Catholic and Muslim faiths to allow this partnership to be forged in good will and good faith,” said Dr Di Nardo.
“On behalf of the families who will benefit from this new level of care in Cairo, I offer my heartfelt gratitude to Prof John Fraser and CCRG for supporting the next generation of researchers, and opening their labs so our doctors and nurses can learn from their dedicated and talented team. A special thanks also to Monsignor Tomasz for hosting us in The John Paul II Sanctuary in Kraków and Dr Salman Abdulaziz for representing the Muslim faith at the signing.”
Recruitment of the new Research Fellows commences this month with first clinicians set to join CCRG in Brisbane in early-2025.
About the Baby Jesus Paediatric Hospital, Rome, Italy
Ospedale Pediatrico Bambino Gesù (Baby Jesus Paediatric Hospital) is a tertiary care academic children's hospital located in Rome that is under extraterritorial jurisdiction of the Holy See. As a tertiary children's referral centre, the hospital provides over 20 specialties of healthcare through 10 paediatric departments.
About the Bambino Gesù Women’s and Children’s Hospital, Cairo
The new hospital provides health care services to children and pregnant women from the time of conception. Located in Cairo, Egypt, (in the area defined as the “New Administrative Capital”), the hospital serves a population of approximately 5 million people. The hospital is the first healthcare institution funded by the Catholic Church in the New Administrative Capital of Egypt, and aims to build on the renowned international reputation of the Bambino Gesù Hospital of Rome.