Bethlehem

Expected Completion: 2009
Number of Beds: 65
Anticipated Number of Patients to be Seen in 1st Year: 10,000
Anticipated Number of Surgeries to be Performed in 1st Year: 2,000

CURE International, the world’s largest provider of pediatric surgical care in the developing world, announced today it will open a $4.25 million specialty surgical and training center in the West Bank city of Bethlehem that will treat and cure children with physical disabilities. The hospital, which will focus on pediatric orthopedics, neurosurgery and plastic reconstructive surgery, will be the first U.S. private investment in the health care system in the West Bank. CURE expects to begin surgeries by Christmas of 2009.

"This cardiac and orthopedic hospital fills a major need in the West Bank where medical care is severely limited," said Dr. Scott Harrison, the orthopedic surgeon who founded CURE International ten years ago and serves as the organization's president and chief executive officer. "We are encouraged by the great support we've already received from both the Israeli and Palestinian governments who understand and appreciate our mission to bring healing to the suffering children in the region."

Harrison is appreciative of the cooperation between Christians, Muslims and Jews who are working together to provide medical care for children in the area. "The Bethlehem hospital is unique in that it is bringing together three faith groups to build a facility of healing in a very volatile region," said Harrison. "Christians and Muslims will serve together at the hospital and will receive additional training at some of the leading hospitals in Jerusalem including Hadassah and Schneider."

The Bethlehem hospital represents a dimension of CURE that Dr. Harrison did not anticipate when he founded the organization to help children in developing nations. In moving into the West Bank, CURE leadership hopes to build bridges of understanding to the Muslim world - a vision they have aggressively embraced after opening a successful hospital in Kabul, Afghanistan, two years ago and acquiring another hospital in Al Ain, United Arab Emirates, last year.

"The CURE hospital will be well received by all people," said Salah Al Tamari, governor of Bethlehem. "In Bethlehem, we set the example for co-existence. Bethlehem is not just a holy place. It is a message - a message of peace, tolerance, freedom, and acceptance of all people."