Raed Arafat

Raed or Rayed Arafat (b. May 24, 1964) is a Syrian-born Palestinian refugee and Romanian intensive care physician. An anestheologist, he is the founder and of Mobile Emergency Service for Resuscitation and Extrication (SMURD), as well as its Mureş County coordinator.

Biography
Born in Damascus to a Palestinian couple from Nablus, he worked as a volunteer in emergency medicine from the age of 14. He left for Communist Romania in 1981, and initially settled in Piteşti, where he took Romanian language classes, and later enrolled at the University of Medicine and Pharmacy in Cluj-Napoca. Arafat later moved to the Târgu Mureş University of Medicine, where he underwent specialization in Anestheology. He was later a graduate of numerous specialist courses abroad, training with the Paris Fire Brigade, the United States National Guard, and the Norwegian Air Ambulance.

Following the 1989 Revolution, Arafat contemplated leaving for France, but was denied the application, and concentrated instead on creating an emergency service in Târgu Mureş (which he originally financed with personal funds).

In 1991, he created SMURD, which began collaborating with the Romanian firefighters service and the Fire service of Scotland, working for it as a volunteer until 1998, when he was naturalized.

In late 2005, his project to have SMURD function as an additional rescue service at a county level was passed into law, but raised opposition from the physician and Social Democratic politician Sorin Oprescu, who had drafted an alternative proposal. A reference to Arafat as "the Ayatollah of Romanian emergency medicine" and the stress he placed on the latter's country of origin brought Oprescu to the attention of the National Anti-Discrimination Office.

Arafat is a non-practicing Muslim. An instructor in first aid procedures, he coordinated international lectures on the matter in several countries (including Austria, Denmark, Greece, the Netherlands, New Zealand, the Republic of Ireland, the United Kingdom, and the United States). In 2003, he was made a Knight of the National Order of Merit of Romania (a Grand Officer since 2005).