BONITA TRUST MRI suite inaugurated in Tel Aviv hospital

(Israel, July 2010) Bonita has donated $1 million to a major Tel-Aviv hospital for the purchase of a new MRI scanner that will be dedicated to the surge of referrals for breast examinations. Inaugurated in July 2010, the “Bonita Trust MRI Suite” will help cater for the major changes that have recently taken place in breast cancer screening protocols requiring the performance of repeated MRI studies.

Speaking on behalf of Bonita’s International Advisory Board, Ruth Parasol DeLeon noted,” It is a pleasure to continue our existing relationship with the Tel Aviv Sourasky Medical Center (“TASMC”) by the donation of this new equipment which will help them deal with the numerous referrals they are receiving. Helping the early detection of breast cancer will save many lives. This is another clear demonstration of Bonita’s ongoing commitment to some of the global health challenges we are facing”.

Professor Gabi Barbash, the TASMC’s Director General, remarked, ”State-of-the-art medical practice advocates repeated MRI studies in women at high risk to develop breast cancer. This population includes young women with genetic predisposition to develop breast cancer or those who have been treated for breast cancer before. The installation of a new MRI suit in our medical center will enable us to provide this important life-saving cancer screening program. For this, we are grateful to the Bonita Trust and Ruth Parasol for their especially generous endowment.

The advanced imaging of an MRI unit, as opposed to the radiation image produced by a Mammography unit, will considerably enhance TASMC’s ability to provide an early detection of what no longer needs to be a life-threatening pathology if it is caught in time via improved screening protocols and better imaging technology.

TASMC

The Tel Aviv Sourasky Medical Center (TASMC) is a governmental medical center and is now one of the six super-centers in Israel (it is the second largest in the country). It has 1300 beds and daily serves a population of close to 1 million residents, tourists, and commuters in the greater Tel Aviv area.

Almost 100,000 patients are admitted annually to the hospital, more than 250,000 patients are evaluated annually in our emergency departments (general, pediatric and obstetrics/gynecology), and more than 1,000,000 patients are treated annually in our outpatient clinics.

TASMC incorporates three hospitals: the General Hospital that also includes a rehabilitation facility, the "Lis" Maternity Hospital and the "Dana-Duek" Children's Hospital. It is a major teaching hospital of the Sackler School of Medicine at the Tel Aviv University and functions as a thriving educational and research center.

The medical center's reputation of excellence and expertise has attracted patients throughout the country who seek medical and surgical care. For example, we are the national center for surgical oncology. More than 60% of our elective surgical patients come from outside the Tel Aviv catchment area. The experience we continue to gather in the multifaceted treatment of these patients serves as a vital element of our capabilities to carry out broad-based scientific research.

TASMC is also assisting Bonita’s other Health projects and helping Bonita to develop and coordinate health programs, providing specialist training and remote diagnostic support to Bonita’s other international medical projects.

TASMC is cooperating with Bonita to develop a “Bonita Trust Global Health Program” which will become a centre of excellence supporting health projects in smaller communities around the world.

Bonita Trust is engaged in a dialogue with Prof Barbash with a view to developing an international programme to support the smaller medical facilities in Gibraltar as well as in Bonita’s other target countries.