NBA Hall of Famer Dikembe Mutombo Plans Historic Visit to Israel's Sheba Medical Center
The NBA all-star Dikembe Mutombo will make his first trip to the Middle East's largest hospital, Sheba Medical Center, on Thursday, November 29th. The visit is the first step in a partnership that will bring Sheba's cutting-edge medical expertise to Mutombo's native Democratic Republic of Congo.
RAMAT GAN, Israel, Nov. 28, 2018 /PRNewswire-PRWeb/ -- All-star NBA player and Hall of Famer Dikembe Mutombo is traveling to Israel's Sheba Medical Center, Tel HaShomer this week to form a collaboration between the hospital's global humanitarian efforts and Mutombo, who built a hospital in his home country, the Democratic Republic of Congo.
On Thursday, November 29, Dikembe Mutombo will spend the morning meeting with Sheba's leadership to discuss a partnership that will fulfill his humanitarian goals for Africa. Mutombo will then tour The Edmond and Lily Safra Children's Hospital and The Edmond J. Safra International Congenital Heart Center, where he will visit with sick children and give away signed basketballs. Video and soundbites will be made available.
Mutombo, who played 18 seasons for the NBA, is known for his humanitarian efforts as well as his basketball prowess. He spearheaded and helped fund the creation of the Biamba Marie Mutombo Hospital in 2007 – the first modern medical facility to be built in decades on the outskirts of his hometown, the Congolese capital of Kinshasa. A quarter of the city's 7.5 million residents live in poverty.
Sheba's Israel Center for Disaster Medicine and Humanitarian Response sends doctors all over the globe to provide emergency help to those long forgotten by the rest of the world. Dr. Elhanan Bar-On, who leads these humanitarian teams, has previously done work in Africa. In fact, just this past year, Sheba set up field hospital in Zambia to treat victims suffering from a fatal cholera outbreak and was able to identify and contain the source of the outbreak.
"Sheba Medical Center is thrilled to be collaborating with Dikembe Mutombo and we look forward to figuring out ways to help the people of the Democratic Republic of Congo. We are here to support Mutombo's humanitarian efforts in any way we can. He is not only an incredible basketball star but an inspiring goodwill ambassador for those who are suffering," said Prof. Elhanan Bar-On, Director of Sheba's Israel Center for Disaster Medicine and Humanitarian Response.
About Sheba Medical Center, Tel HaShomer
Born together with Israel in 1948, Sheba Medical Center, Tel HaShomer is the largest and most comprehensive medical center in the Middle East. Sheba is the only medical center in Israel that combines an acute care hospital and a rehabilitation hospital on one campus, and it is at the forefront of medical treatments, patient care, research and education. As a university teaching hospital affiliated with the Sackler School of Medicine at Tel-Aviv University, it welcomes people from all over the world indiscriminately. To learn more, visit: eng.sheba.co.il
SOURCE Sheba Medical Center
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