Rome – The first edition of The ECAM Council Forum was launched in Rome on the 22nd and 23rd of October. The Council was born from GK Investment Holding Group, GSD Middle East Chairman and GSD Vice President Kamel Ghribi’s deep desire to find solutions through the sharing of experience, knowledge, resources and skills with other nations and to give something back to Africa and the Middle East. The first edition ‘Building Bridges with Africa and Middle East: The role of Gruppo San Donato and GK Investment Holding Group in the Future of Healthcare’ was held in full compliance with the current Covid-19 safety restrictions and was hosted to discuss and address the current and future challenges facing healthcare, which have inevitably been intensified by the Covid-19 pandemic, as well as the best strategies to adopt in the field of healthcare post pandemic.
The ECAM Council is a non-profit entity created in collaboration with Gruppo Ospedaliero San Donato and Italian think-tank The European House Abrosetti collaborated with the Council to create a series of roundtable discussions among Health Ministers and Ambassadors from Africa and the Middle East with Italian ministerial and diplomatic counterparts. Guest nations who enthusiastically participated in the first session included Tunisia, Egypt, Iraq and Kenya who actively participated with host country Italy. Each delegation was represented by a Minister of Health who was accompanied by a deputy and the Ambassador heading the respective diplomatic missions to Italy.
Roundtable side-line meetings were also held at various occasions during the forum and included: Kamel Ghribi President of GK Investment Holding Group, Chairman of GSD Middle East and Vice President of GSD; Paolo Rotelli President of the San Raffaele Vita - Salute Hospital University and Vice President GSD; Angelino Alfano, President of GSD and former Italian Minister for Foreign Affairs; Pierpaolo Sileri, Italian Deputy Minister of Health; Faouzi Mehdi Tunisian Minister of Health; Hassan Abbas Al-Tameemi Iraqi Minister of Health; Mutahi Kagwe Minister of Health of Kenya and Dr. Hala Zayed the Egyptian Minister of Health.
The round table discussions were heavily centred around the current COVID-19 crisis and how best to approach and resolve the second wave of the pandemic. However, the Ministers were also concerned with examining and sharing regional and national strategies for the future of global health and how best to identify tailored investments that will advance the health sector and bring high quality care to the patients of tomorrow.
Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte together with his Foreign Minister Luigi Di Maio, Health Minister Roberto Speranza and Deputy Health Minister Pierpaolo Sileri addressed the forum on day one sharing their experience and vision for the future and the sessions were concluded with a dinner organised to honour the honourable participants.
During discussions with the Hon. Luigi Di Maio the Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation, Kamel Ghribi stated: “I do not fear that we will be defeated by COVID-19 in the sphere of medicine – we are already very close to understanding and combatting the virus through medical R&D; my only fear is that if we do not look ahead to tomorrow then we will risk being defeated by fear and inertia”. The GSD Middle East Chairman further stated that “With the right precautions and adherence to safety regulations life continues even in COVID-19 times and only together can we face the magnitude of the effects of a pandemic.”Addressing the guests in conclusion he stated: “We are here today to prove that if we can establish close lines of communication with Africa and the Middle East then we can strengthen bilateral investments that will in turn strengthen our resolve to face future challenges together.”
Ambassadors and Ministers were delighted to share tables in the company of top entrepreneurs and health professionals. The Hon. Minister of the Interior Luciana Lamorgese was warmly welcomed the delegates together with author and journalist Bruno Vespa and Enas Mekkawy the Ambassador of the Arab League in Rome as well as the Governor of Rome Matteo Piantedosi and National Security Officials. The dinner provided a further opportunity for conversation, rapprochement and sharing of knowledge among participants.
The second day of the Forum was dedicated to bilateral meetings between the various Ministers of Health of participating countries. The aim of the bilateral meetings was to give each Minister an opportunity to discuss with their respective counterparts a series of issues regarding the health sector and the problems inherent therein and share experience to create a learning experience in which it is possible to learn and build on knowledge. The honourable guests were invited to visit the headquarters of the Technical Scientific Committee (CTS) of the Italian Civil Defence, where a conference was held with the World Health Organisation representatives Agostino Miozzo and Ranieri Guerra, during which participants discussed the problems of the Covid-19 pandemic and the most efficient strategies to deal with it. Specific attention was given to the fact that the Italian Civil Defence had demonstrated a phenomenal ability and experience in facing the crisis in the early and as yet unknown days of the virus.
