MDA Olympics
MDA OlympicsIsraelNNTV

“Israeli Salad”, INNTV’s weekly magazine, this week visited the Second Emergency Medical Services (EMS) Championship, also known as the MDA Olympics. The event, which was organized by Magen David Adom, Israel’s main EMS (emergency medical services) organization, took place in the Dead Sea region and in Dimona under the banner: "Saving Lives at the Dead Sea".





The competition was aimed at testing the professionalism and capabilities of the medical teams in saving lives. Around 40 teams took part in the Olympics from MDA, the IDF and international emergency services from Turkey, Canada, Ireland, England, Holland, Norway, USA, Germany, the Czech Republic, France, Jordan and Poland.



The teams went through 11 stations of treatment and safety, designed to include various imaginative scenarios. They were faced with situations that tested their capabilities for giving correct treatment responses, medical response for victims of a mass casualty incident, treatment for conventional and non-conventional incidents and also giving life saving treatment to patients and victims with problems in the fields of trauma, cardiology, children and respiratory emergencies. 

The judges measured, estimated and graded the capabilities and professional expertise of the competitors in the different categories.



Magen David Adom (MDA) was established in 1930 and its objectives were defined in the Magen David Adom Law passed by the Knesset (Israel's Parliament) on July 12, 1950:

To carry out the functions of a national society, to be for this purpose an auxiliary service of the Medical Service of the Israeli Defense Forces in time of war and to prepare for this in time of peace; 

To maintain general first aid services;

To maintain a storage service of blood, plasma and their by-products; 

Instruction in first aid and pre-hospital emergency medicine;

Maintaining a volunteer infrastructure and training them in first aid, basic and advanced life support including Mobile Intensive Care Units;

Transportation of patients, women in labor, and evacuation of those wounded and killed in road accidents;

Transportation of doctors, nurses and medical auxiliary forces.

MDA cooperates with the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement.