An award-winning Israeli-Palestinian app is helping medical staff communicate better while transferring Palestinian patients from the West Bank to Israel.
The app, named ‘Care and Transfer’, has been created by Yaara, a 22-year-old Israeli paramedic, and Zafer, a 25-year-old Palestinian general practitioner in the West Bank city of Nablus.
Their idea took first prize in a Google-sponsored competition.
Currently, Palestinian patients who need to be treated in Israel because their condition cannot be adequately addressed in West Bank hospitals, are transferred by ambulance to Israeli checkpoints, from where they are taken by another ambulance to hospitals in Israel.
When these transfers occur, communication between the parties is often flawed, and one of the biggest issues is a lack of clear information exchange between the two ambulances.
These delays and miscommunication can be fatal, particularly with patients who are in critical condition or need urgent medical attention. Zafer said in an interview with the Times of Israel: “The consequences of such a problem can be devastating”, and greater cooperation between parties at both sides of the divide would be able to address this problem.
The app, available on smartphones and hospital computers, enables medical staff to have a direct line of communication with each other to exchange information on a patient’s medical background or current status.
Zafer and Yaara met in September at the Tech2Peace initiative, a 12-day program of tech and peace-building seminars for Palestinians and Israelis. Tech2Peace is focused on creating strong relationships between young Palestinians and Israelis, and includes learning about collaboration in the technology sector.
