Gulf Crisis, confidential （９）　

９) Medical exchange program
We suggested the medical technology exchange between two countries, to Saudi officials to do. However, we had not prepared anything in detail for this. So after announcing it, we felt a bit of regret.
It was only my buddy surgeon Dr. A and I who could do the presentation, and the time was very limited. We had to find a counterpart to exchange and do it in a week or so.

Dr. A was a specialist in the surgery of liver and billiary tracts, and happened to carry slides made at the time of the recent surgical meeting in Japan. He decided to present it. I chose to present a new method of regional chemotherapy for pleural cancer, which I was working on with a surgeon at Osaka National Hospital. I also wanted to present the 3-dimensional MRI arteriography which methods my colleague radiologist in Osaka had just developed, and make a video presentation with English narration. In my case, I had to ask people concerned in Osaka to send materials to Riyadh immediately. I faxed the surgeon, co-worker of the cancer chemotherapy and the radiologist, explaining the urgent situation in Riyadh. They understood it right away and arranged the materials and sent them by diplomatic pouch. They reached us in a week with our super team work!

On November 27, the Medical Technology Exchange was held at Prince Salman Hospital in Riyadh. Medical attache Dr. B brought us to this hospital in early November. The Chief of Surgery at Prince Salman asked us to introduce them to some aspects of Japanese medicine at that time. That is why Prince Salman was chosen for the exchange program. The Chief of Surgery was Indian and so were most of his staff doctors. Therefore, there was no problem with English. They responded to the presentations by me and Dr. A and asked us a lot of questions. From those questions their level of medicine seemed to be quite high. After the meeting the Chief of Surgery invited us to a reception room for tea and cookies, British style. The Chief praised our presentation, and half diplomatically asked for the videotape of 3-dimensional MRI arteriography. I gave it to him. I thought we did our duty well enough. We left the hospital satisfactorily, remembering the extremely busy one week we had experienced.

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