Cambridge University is sponsoring a programme for Jewish, Christian and Muslim trainee doctors and nurses at five Israeli hospitals to teach them the Koran, the New Testament and the Torah.

The Cambridge Interfaith programme, part of the university's divinity faculty, is supporting the new workshops, run by the Middle Eastern branch of the British-based Three Faiths Forum.

The workshops are designed to teach Israeli medical and nursing students about each other's cultures and are a compulsory part of the medical training. Participating institutions include Jerusalem's Hadassah Ein Kerem and Herzog hospitals and Kaplan hospital in Rehovot.

Medical student Uri Ehrlich, 28, from Rehovot, said: "I've never studied Torah with Christians and Muslims, even though they are good friends of mine. It was difficult but in the end eye-opening. I'm rethinking the way I view others in Israel, and my interactions with them in hospital when I become a doctor."

Medical students have been studying portions of the text which are focused on health and healing.

The programme is being run by Miriam Feldmann Kaye, director of the Three Faiths Forum Middle East, who is a Cambridge theology graduate.