Dr Netanel Wasserteil completed his residency at the Huberfeld Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU)- the very same unit where his life was saved when he was born at just 3lb 4oz.
“There is no doubt that my decision to specialise in the NICU was influenced by the fact that I was a premature baby,” he said.
Born at 3lb 4oz, at the time the doctors were not optimistic about his chances of survival. “I enjoy telling parents how I was born. I give them hope. I feel like a representative of the babies,” said Dr Wasserteil who is specialising in internal medicine.
To complete the circle, the Director of NICU, Professor Michael Schimmel, was the person that saved him, against the odds, 30 years ago.
“In those days the chances of survival of babies with such low birth weights was very low,” explains Professor Schimmel.
“It brings me great pleasure to see premature babies develop, go home and develop in their lives.” That one of the babies has become a colleague is “the best reward for all the hard work.”
Picture: Left, Professor Schimmel; Right, Dr Wasserteil