Doctor Abroad Medical Alliance (DAMA), a Spanish intermediation and management company in the healthcare and academic sectors headquartered in Salamanca, and Academy Company for Information and Communication Technology (ACICT), the company through which the Arab Academy for Science, Technology and Maritime Transport (AASTMT) carries out its commercial and technology activities, signed on Monday a collaboration agreement to jointly develop training, certification and healthcare cooperation programmes in the Middle East and Africa.
The agreement, signed by video conference between Salamanca and Cairo by Ahmed Sharaf, CEO of ACICT, and Álvaro Laforet, CEO of DAMA, has an initial term of two years and is structured around two lines of work.
The first covers the collaboration of DAMA with AASTMT and ACICT to promote continuing education programmes for students and professionals across their institutional network, present throughout the Arab world and the African continent. The initiative seeks to widen opportunities for knowledge updating, specialisation and professional development.
To develop this offering and arrange its academic certification, DAMA plans to work with a number of universities. Initially, the programmes will be offered in collaboration with the University of Salamanca, through its General Foundation, in accordance with the validation and certification procedures established for each training proposal.
The second opens the door to joint programmes in the healthcare and technology fields: missions of Spanish specialist physicians to deliver workshops, training and surgical activity at hospitals and training centres in the region, and institutional projects combining technology solutions — cybersecurity, cloud and artificial intelligence — with training and certification for public authorities, companies and institutions in Egypt, Tunisia and Algeria, among other countries.
AASTMT is a specialised organisation of the League of Arab States devoted to higher education, training and research, with an extensive network of campuses and institutional agreements across the region.
DAMA, for its part, connects specialist physicians with hospitals, institutions and patients in other countries, coordinates medical training programmes and manages the participation of international students in programmes of the universities with which it collaborates.
Ahmed Sharaf noted that the Academy's students and professionals will have access to European university certification without leaving the region, and its institutions to top-level specialists.
Álvaro Laforet, for his part, stressed that the agreement brings together Spanish medical and academic talent with one of the most extensive educational networks in the Arab world. The first objective will be certified training, followed by the medical and technology programmes.
The first planned actions include the submission of the first programmes for validation and certification, and joint participation in the International Forum on Digital Financial Intelligence in Sousse (Tunisia) from 24 to 26 October, as well as meetings with hospitals and institutions in Cairo and Algeria during the last quarter of the year.
About DAMA — Doctor Abroad Medical Alliance, S.L. is a Salamanca-based company dedicated to intermediation and management in the healthcare and academic sectors: international mobility of specialist physicians, coordination of international patients, medical training programmes and management of international students.
About ACICT — In 2001, The Arab Academy for Science Technology and Maritime Transport has incorporated the Academy Company for Information and Communication Technology (ACICT) as an Egyptian joint-stock company working on delivering knowledge in the field of business solutions, consultation, ICT, training and educational service, fully supported by the Arab Academy. It became a leading company in developing IT programs, developing educational curriculums and providing integrated solutions in the fields of human development.