Conference highlights influence of Kairouan’s medical school on Arab medicine
TUNISIAONLINENEWS- from the 9th to the 11th century the former “Aghlabid capital”, Kairouan was famous for its medical school and physicians such as Ibn Al Jazzar. Medical knowledge swiftly crossed the borders of ‘Ifriqiya’ to reach the West.
Indeed, the translation of works by Ibn Al Jazzar and other physicians into many languages especially into Latin, contributed to the creation of medical schools in Europe such as the medical school of Salerno in Italy and that of Montpellier in France.
In this context and as part of the celebration of “Kairouan, 2009 Islamic culture capital”, The Islamic Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (ISESCO), the Ministry of Public Health, the Tunisian Association of the History of Medicine and Pharmacy and the Center for Islamic Studies of Kairouan organized on November 17 to 19, 2009, a conference on “the medical school of Kairouan and its place in Arab-Islamic medicine”.
On the sidelines of the conference, an exhibition on Tunisian medicines dating back two thousand years ago as well as 450 surgical instruments used by doctors in medieval times ,were displayed.
Scholars and physicians from Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, Libya, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Syria and Irak took part in the conference.
The event was organized by the Tunisian Association of the History of Medicine and Pharmacy that was founded in the early eighties by a group of Tunisian physicians including the association’s former president Mr. Slim Ammar.
During the last three years, the Tunisian Association of the History of Medicine and Pharmacy organized 10 conferences on the history of Arab and Western medicine, and the importance of ancient medical terminology.
