Prof. Morris Hartstein, MD is the Founding Director of Operation Ethiopia, a non-profit organization whose mission is to provide Medical and Food Aid to poor communities in Ethiopia.
Prof. Morris Hartstein has travelled to Ethiopia over a dozen times to volunteer his time and skills to treat and operate on some of the poorest patients in the world.
Prof. Hartstein has established a program that brings Ethiopian Ophthalmologists to Shamir Medical Center in Israel for advanced training. Dr. Morris Hartstein has also brought three Ethiopian Ophthalmologists to Israel for extended periods to train with him in Oculoplastic Surgery. Three out of the six Oculoplastic Surgeons in all of Ethiopia have been trained by Prof. Hartstein.
Since 2013, Prof. Morris Hartstein has been the sole eyecare provider to 10,000 Jews awaiting Aliyah in Addis Ababa and Gondar. He has personally examined over 7,000 people, and provided eye medications and eyeglasses to thousands. He has run three “cataract campaigns” in Ethiopia which have restored the eyesight of over 700 people blinded by dense cataracts.
Prof. Morris Hartstein was also instrumental in setting up a feeding program together with SSEJ (Struggle to Save Ethiopian Jewry) in the Jewish community of Gondar to provide one stable meal a day to 500 children ages five and under who suffer from severe malnutrition. The program has made a meaningful difference in the lives of children who would otherwise suffer the lifelong impact of nutritional deficiency in childhood.
Recognized for his work in Ethiopia, Prof. Hartstein was invited to join the 2018 delegation accompanying President Reuven Rivlin on the first ever Israeli presidential visit to Ethiopia. He has addressed Israeli Parliament / Knesset committee meetings on three separate occasions regarding humanitarian suffering in Ethiopia. In 2020 Prof. Hartstein was invited to join Minister Pnina Tamano-Shata to Ethiopia on an Israeli Diplomatic Mission, and had the honor of flying back with new Olim / Immigrants on the very first Aliyah flight of Operation Rock of Israel.
Prof. Hartstein has received certificates of commendation for his work by the University of Gondar, the Municipality of Gondar’s Department of Women and Children, and has met several times with the Ethiopian Minister of Health to consult on Eyecare in Ethiopia.
To learn more about Operation Ethiopia click here.
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