Children in Gaza are dying at the guillotine of medical transfers
- Posted Category : News Reports
- 5 July 2017
During a press conference in Al-Shefa Polyclinic in Gaza, held on Tuesday, 27 June 2017, Dr. Yousuf Abo-elreesh, the deputy of the health ministry in Gaza, warned of the consequences of persistent deprivation of Gaza patients of the most basic of treatment rights by preventing medication and the opportunity for receiving treatment abroad. Dr. Abo-elreesh said: “The years of oppressive siege have not left Gaza patients any words to describe the extent of the harsh reality faced by them with no end to their pain and suffering with every passing day.”
He added that – according to him – “Today, being the third day of Eid Al Fitr, we have come to bear the cries of the remaining suckling new-borns whose little bodies do not intercede for them to attain a portion of their right to live which has been snatched away by the Zionist Occupation and the Palestinian Leadership in Ramallah. There is a clear exchange of roles in condemning the rights of our patients to treatment in a fully-fledged crime by halting the supply of medication and neglecting about 2500 transfers sent to Ramallah, of which just 250 transfers were processed and issued. The enemy completed its role by preventing the exit of patients for treatment by unjustified claims, thus claiming the lives of eleven patients as martyrs on the guillotine of failed attempts to receive treatment abroad.. Of them, five were children since the beginning of the year in a clear transgression of red lines by employing the suffering of patients to make Gaza surrender. Yesterday we all followed the funeral procession of an infant, Mus’ab Bilal Ar’eer, days after his birth and after strenuous attempts to transfer him abroad for treatment, only for the child Bara Gubn to meet him hours thereafter, and this morning the child Ibrahim Tubail. There are a number of infants who face the same fate in the coming hours at Shifa Medical Society, Nasr Children’s Hospital and Rantissi Children’s Hospital,” according to Abo-elreesh.
Dr. Abo-elreesh stated: “We, at the Health Ministry, and in the face of these heinous crimes of systematic killing of patients through depriving them of their most basic right, affirm the following: -
1 – We regard what the Zionist Occupation leaders and the leadership in Ramallah are doing, by robbing patients of the right to treatment, as a fully-fledged crime which caused the martyrdom of eleven patients due to non-supply of medication and medical transfers and this causes the issuing of death certificates of hundreds of patients in Gaza.
2 – We call upon all international, human rights and humanitarian organisations to employ all means of pressurising the leadership in Ramallah and the leadership of the occupation to stop the denial of the right to treatment of our patients and to condemn those inhumane and immoral practices which have begun taking innocent souls like Bara, Mus’ab and Ibrahim.
3 – We call upon our brothers in Egypt to embrace our patients and to allow them to cross through the Rafah crossing as a lifeline to these patients, far from the practices of the occupation at the Beit Hanoun crossing, and to allow relief and humanitarian convoys to cross the Gaza Strip in order to alleviate the suffering of our patients.”
Dr. Abo-elreesh added that: “Gaza is deprived of medication, fuel and electricity. Its workers, who work day and night treating its patients, are deprived of their salaries. More than 42% of medication is at 0% level.” He also indicated that the suffering of the health sector and Gazan patients has increased after the health sector had being deprived of development and foundation and non-maintenance of medical equipment, adding – according to him – “The elements of this crime are today completed by depriving them of the right to treatment as guaranteed in every law and their right to access places of treatment and medication.”
In the same context, four children had passed away by the end of the press conference: Yusuf Za’rab, Sa’id Harz, Siwar Masry and Yusuf Agha.
On the other hand, the Health Ministry in Ramallah denied the news about its ceasing of medical transfers of Gazan patients, confirming that there was no ruling by any Palestinian side regarding this matter. Spokesperson for the Ministry, Usamah Najjar, said that: “the procedures are progressing as before, and the transfers occur as usual, and there are tens of patients in the West Bank hospitals,” according to him. Najjar placed full responsibility on the Israeli occupation for the delay in patients exiting Gaza for treatment outside the Gaza Strip. He attributed the reason of the non-exit of patients to the continuous Israeli intolerance and denial of issuing exit permits for Gazan patients to West Bank hospitals.
Head of the medical transfer department in the Southern areas, Dr. Basam Badri, also confirmed that the Israeli occupation holds full responsibility for the death of the infants by denying their companions permission to exit Gaza under flimsy security pretexts. Badri said: “The children who passed away recently in the Gaza Strip had obtained financial cover from the Health Ministry and the transfer department applied for permits for their companions a number of times, but the occupation denied them from exiting,” according to him.
At another level, the Coordinator of Israeli Government Activities in the Palestinian Territories, Yuwaf Mordakhai, confirmed that the Palestinian Leadership scaled down the budget allocated to the people of Gaza. According to Mordakhai’s statement, he said: “Without commitment and resolution to pay for the price of treatment, Gazans are unable to obtain treatment in hospitals, nor are they able to obtain entrance permits,” adding: “Israel, on the other hand, treats all requests to obtain treatment and in emergency situations, it allows entrance to obtain instant treatment.” He continued: “The issue of treatment is just like the electricity crisis. If the Palestinians do not pay, then Israel is not obliged to pay for them,” according to his claims.
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