LTC(Ret) Arik Eisenkraft MD, MHA
Future Forces Forum
Future Forces Exhibition 2016
Assistant Professor
Department of Military Medicine Hebrew University of Jerusalem
Presentation
The Israeli Model of Hospital Preparedness to Chemical Warfare and Terror Events
The Israeli preparedness to a toxicological mass casualty event was aimed originally towards a potential attack using chemical warfare agents on the civilian population from neighboring countries. With time, all hospitals in the country were upgraded and prepared. Lessons from all preparedness efforts and the numerous drills conducted over the years helped in adjusting the doctrine of the national health system.
However, when preparing to a war scenario, there is a time window for preparedness. This time window does not exist in a surprise toxicological terror event. It was obvious that there is a need to adjust the doctrine to include chemical terror events as well as natural/man-made disasters.
In my talk I will detail the preparedness process we made within our hospitals, to allow the best medical care in every toxicological mass casualty event, and provide examples based on recent events worldwide.
Curriculum Vitae
Dr. Eisenkraft holds an MD degree from the Sackler Faculty of Medicine, Tel-Aviv University, Israel; a residency in Pediatrics from the Sheba Medical Center, Tel-Hashomer, Israel; and a MHA degree from the Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Israel. During 2000-2008 he served in the CBRN Medicine Branch of the IDF, and from 2008-2016 he served as the Head of the Medicine Branch at the CBRN Protection Division of the Israeli Ministry of Defense. As such, he was leading national research and development efforts as well as procurement of medical countermeasures (MCMs) against all CBRN threats; working closely together with national and foreign governmental departments and agencies, the IDF, the Home-Front Command and the Israeli Ministry of Health. His efforts focused on the seeding of new research programs, aimed to develop new MCMs, as well as re-purposing and broadening the clinical indications of currently available compounds, and testing cutting-edge technologies for drug delivery methods. He is currently a member of several national professional teams in the field of CBRN Medicine.
In 2013, Dr. Eisenkraft has led the efforts to establish the Institute for Research in Military Medicine (IRMM), and from 2013-2016 he served as the Military Deputy of the Institute. Since 2013, he is an assistant professor at the IRMM, actively involved in more than 30 projects, all in the field of Military Medicine.
In 2016, LTC Dr. Eisenkraft has retired from the IDF.
Dr. Eisenkraft is now the Director of Homeland Defense Projects in Pluristem Therapeutics Inc. and is also involved in several Israeli start-ups in the field of military medicine and emergency medicine.
