A pair of premature twins arrived in Israel on a military plane and were immediately transferred to Carmel Hospital. The father says: "The tower moved like a house of cards, and I ran with my babies. I'm just happy to have arrived in Israel."
The twins arrived in Israel on a military plane, at Nevatim Airport, and were immediately transferred to the north. Even before the babies landed, the neonatal ward at Carmel Hospital went on special alert and preparedness. "Upon receiving the news of the magnitude of the disaster, we immediately provided the neonatal ward with staff and equipment that could go out and provide professional assistance on the spot," explains Prof. Avi Rothschild, director of the neonatal and premature department at Carmel Hospital.
After landing safely, the father of the premature twins says: "On Saturday, I held the cute premature babies in my arms. We were in the neonatal unit on the fifth floor of the hospital tower and suddenly the whole building started shaking. The tower moved like a house of cards, and I ran with my babies quickly downstairs and stood in the plaza outside. There was chaos and hysteria everywhere. The most frustrating thing is the feeling of helplessness. I'm just happy that I arrived in Israel and at Carmel Hospital. I feel protected and at home."
At 5:00 a.m., a reinforced team of doctors and nurses stood at the entrance gates to the Carmel maternity hospital to receive the premature twins who had landed from Kathmandu.
Doctor Dr. Keren Nathan and midwife nurses Vardit Heller and Lilach Bar received the premature twins and immediately transferred them to isolation and further testing. "The premature babies arrived at a low weight and after a long journey," reports Prof. Avi Rothschild, director of the midwifery unit.
They were born at 34 weeks and arrived in Carmel when they were only two weeks old. The premature male was born weighing 1,450 kg and the premature female weighed only 1,400 kg.
The premature babies are in incubators in the neonatal unit in isolation, and they are being comprehensively examined to ensure that they are not carriers of bacteria or diseases that came from Nepal.
"The entire staff at the neonatal unit surrounds the new premature babies with a lot of warmth and love," says Lior Shaked, the nursing director at the neonatal unit. "We are as excited as everyone else and will give them the best possible care, just as we give all premature babies and infants."
While the premature babies are warming up in the neonatal unit, Dr. Reuven Kedar, deputy director of the Women's and Obstetrics Department at Carmel, is warming up the engine for the flight to Naples. Dr. Kedar is heading the Israeli delegation sent by the Home Front Command and he serves as the commander of the obstetric and gynecological unit of a field hospital that Israel is establishing in Kathmandu.
