Two Israeli physicians met with the Egyptian Minister of Health and were accorded first-class treatment by their Egyptian colleagues during their recent attendance at a gynecological conference in Cairo, one of the physicians, Prof. Yoseph Shenker, said yesterday on his return from Egypt.
Shenker, a practising physician at Jerusalem’s Hadassah Hospital, and Prof. David Sher of Tel Hashomer Hospital in Tel Aviv, were invited by the Egyptians to attend a conference on the subject of toxicosis in pregnancy, which was organized under the auspices of Jihan Sadat, wife of Egyptian President Anwar Sadat. A number of other countries also participated, among them representatives of other Arab nations in the region.
“It was as if peace had already arrived,” Shenker said. “The Egyptian physicians with whom we came into contact were first-class gynecologists, and we spent most of our time with them exchanging ideas. There was nothing which could remind us of the tensions existent on the diplomatic sphere.”
Shenker denied reports which appeared yesterday in the Jordanian press that the Jordanian and Saudi Arabian delegates to the conference had walked out due to the Israeli presence. “The Jordanians weren’t even scheduled to participate, and the Saudis stayed till the end, exchanging ideas with us throughout the conference,” he said. Shenker added, “We talked with the Egyptian delegation about future efforts of cooperation between our two countries in the area of medical science, and even possible combined research efforts were mentioned.”
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