News: Royal Tropical Institute, Amsterdam, March 2004

    
OMGE wins major private sector award
  

 

 

World Gastroenterology Organization (OMGE) President Guido Tytgat on March 17, 2004, collected an $85,000 dollar European prize on behalf of the organization's Education Committee. The recognition by an Amsterdam foundation highlighted the pioneering GE training initiatives brought to life by teams of OMGE leaders, local physicians and government officials in South Africa, Egypt, Morocco, Pakistan, Thailand, Chile and Bolivia. The Helffer-Kootkar Foundation prize, one of the Dutch private sector's most prestigious, has regularly awarded socially significant achievements of individuals and organizations since 1981.

Left to right: Donner, Tytgat and Leertouwer at Royal Tropical Institute prize award

Accepting the diploma, Prof. Tytgat said 'the hopes and dreams of a teaching infrastructure so well-established that almost any form of training is possible, either on-site or long-distance, have now come closer.' Prof. Lammert Leertouwer, the foundation's board chairman, said at a ceremony hosted at Amsterdam's Royal Tropical Institute by Institute President Jan Donner that OMGE could be proud of 'pioneering work and concrete achievements over several decades in the organization of public-private sector medical training services in emerging nations.'

'This is terrific recognition for the work of OMGE's leadership, the national associations and the individuals who did the hard work over the years', said OMGE Vice-President Eamonn Quigley. 'It's also greatly encouraging for the OMGE education and training programme still ahead.' As for the ultimate beneficiary of the Helffer-Kootkar money, the OMGE leadership is said to be examining candidates in several Asian countries.


 

Other pages in this news feature
Low-profile largesse - The Helffer-Kootkar Prize Foundation
Dysfunctional healthcare means "desperate call" for training
AIDD: an African 'first'
OMGE training centers in seven countries - and counting
South African expatriate's long struggle to prevail

 

  

The Helffer-Kootkar Prize Foundation

Dutch industrialist Anton Helffer and his wife Christine Kootkar set up their foundation in 1980. Endowed with the fortune they made in electrical insulation, the foundation was to become their public legacy.

Since 1981 the couple's endowment has pumped close to $1 million into humanitarian efforts. "Promoting social citizenship worldwide is all-important" says Jan Joosten, the foundation's secretary-general. "The foundation is very much in the background: we want to spotlight the prize-winners."

Read more about the Helffer-Kootkar Foundation

 
 

 

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19.04.04