Between August 1^st and 7^th, the International Federation of Medical Students’ Associations (IFMSA) Branch at An-Najah University participated in the IFMSA’s 60^th General Assembly which was held in Copenhagen, Denmark in which more than 1000 medical students from over 100 countries participated.

An-Najah University’s delegation participated in all of the Assembly’s meetings and sessions. Razan Abu Khaizuran and Haneen Rabee’, represented the University in the meetings of the Human Rights and Refugees Committee in which the effective ways to raise awareness regarding human rights and refugees were discussed. The two students delivered a presentation about the IMSTAR Project which is a student exchange one that is held at An-Najah on an annual basis in cooperation with the IFMSA’s Branch in Holland.

On the other hand, Ahmed Mdallal represented the University in the Administrative Board’s meetings in which a number of issues that are related to the federation were discussed including: How to search for funding and marketing resources for the projects, societies and successful media, as well as the most significant financial problems that the IFMSA is currently encountering and how to overcome them in the future.

Furthermore, Khairi Shalhoub represented An-Najah in the meetings of the Student Exchange Committee which is considered the most important of all the Committees since through this committee student exchange contracts are signed between the different participant countries. More than 30 clinical student exchange contracts were signed during this meeting with a number of countries, including: Germany, Spain, Poland, Hungary, Lithuania, Turkey, Romania, Egypt and Jordan.  These seats will be reserved for medical students in the clinical stage to allow them to receive training.

During the Assembly also, student Omar Abu Zaideh was elected as a representative member of the Eastern Mediterranean countries in the International Committee that supervises the modification sessions of the regulations and systems of the IFMSA and the international elections; additional four students were also chosen.

Dr. Waleed Basha, IFMSA Coordinator, supervised a number of meetings to discuss cooperation opportunities with different countries that took part in the Assembly.

The members of the Palestinian delegation received training in a number of fields through attending different workshops and courses. These fields included: Leadership, projects’ management, dealing with stress and pressure, strategic planning, as well as communication technologies and financial management.

An-Najah student delegation also participated in the meeting of the federations in the Middle East during which they discussed with other participants several issues including: Strengthening the committees that make up the Federation, as well as the possibility to implement joint projects on the regional level since Middle East countries share common traits, problems and needs that require collective efforts to tackle them.

Moreover, Abu Zaideh and Razan Abu Khaizuran delivered a lecture about the NORPAL SAWA Project which was recently concluded at An-Najah. The NORPAL SAWA Project is a unique student exchange program that was implemented in partnership between the University and the IFMSA’s branch in Norway. The Project caught the attention of the participants and the Chair of the International Supervising Committee of the IFMSA recommended nominating the Project to be added to the Permanent International Projects List of the IFMSA. The Project was classified as one of the best student exchange projects in the world and an article about it was published in the International Journal of the IFMSA.

The IFMSA’s Branch at An-Najah thanked the University represented by its President, Prof. Rami Hamdallah, and Professor Anwar Dudin, Dean of the Faculty of Medicine, as well as the administrative and teaching staff at the Faculty for their continuous support of the Federation and its activities.

They also thanked Dr. Salem Abu Khaizuran, Chairman of the Board of Directors of Nablus Speciality Hospital, for his unlimited support of the delegation and the medical students in Palestine.