The Medical Transfer crisis in Gaza Strip: A disgrace to humanity
- Posted Category : News Reports
- 30 July 2017
Yesterday morning, the Gazan Health Ministry announced the death of a child, Muhammad Ahmad Sayis, in Durra Children’s Hospital. This was after he had spent one week in the hospital’s intensive care unit. During his hospitalisation, numerous efforts were made to attain a medical transfer permit for him from the Health Ministry in Ramallah. This was so that his family could travel with him for his treatment in West Bank hospitals or inside the green line in Israel. This tragedy is not an isolated incident. Recently, the number of Palestinian patient deaths have increased in the Gaza Strip. This is amidst accusations between the special bodies in Gaza and Ramallah about who is responsible for withholding medical transfers for treatment outside Gaza.
Dr. Ashraf Qudrah, spokesperson for the Health Ministry in Gaza, said that Sayis is the 23rd victim. The Ministry in Gaza requested an urgent medical transfer for treatment outside Gaza. However, the Ministry in Ramallah, being responsible for transfers outside Gaza, denied the issuance of the transfer. He indicated that all those patients passed away since the halting of medical transfers by the Authority for the past four months.
During a press release, Dr. Qudrah said: “The Zionist Occupation and the Authority in Ramallah have escalated their abusive, racist operations against patients in the Gaza Strip. They are committing a brutal massacre against them which has claimed the lives of twenty three patients until now, due to their deprivation of patients of their right to treatment. They do this by withholding medical supplies and manipulating medical transfers by obstructing patients’ exit for treatment in specialized centres outside the Gaza Strip. They have also cut off electricity for the fourth consecutive month. This has dangerous repercussions on patient lives and the general health of the society.”
Dr. Qudrah confirmed the necessity of international and human rights organisations to take immediate action to stop the exploitation of patient lives and to preserve their right to treatment. He called upon the Palestinian factions to convene an emergency meeting to stop the operations of the Authority in Ramallah against the citizens of the Gaza Strip. He also asked them to form a safety umbrella for the health department which includes the safety and permanence of health services and the fulfilment of the health needs of patients. He demanded the deputies of the Legislative Council in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip to take urgent and effective steps to end the activities of the Authority in Ramallah against the patients by using the power of authority vested in the Legislative Council. He also demanded the formation of a High Commission of Inquiry to find out the circumstances surrounding the deaths of the twenty three patients, and to judge those responsible for their deaths according to Palestinian Law.
Statistics from human rights centres indicate that the Palestinian Authority refrained from issuing about 87% of medical transfers received since March. One human rights centre pointed out that more than one thousand, eight hundred and fifty patients are awaiting replies from the Ministry in Ramallah regarding the medical transfer proposed to them. According to Mizan Centre and the Palestinian Centre for human rights, the withholding of medical transfer issuance has been occurring gradually, until it reached frighteningly, high numbers during these past months of June and July.
On the other hand, the Health Ministry in Ramallah denies having a hand in the halting of medical transfers from the Gaza Strip. They insisted that there was no decision taken in this regard. Dr. Usamah Najjar, spokesperson for the Health Ministry in Ramallah, said in a previous press statement: “The process of medical transfers is operating as usual”. He pointed out that the crisis stems from the Israeli oppression and denial in granting patients exit permits from Gaza to the West Bank or across the green line.
In the same context, Dr. Abdul Karim Bawab, head of the neonatal unit of Nasir Medical Society in Gaza, warned of the deteriorating health of the babies admitted to the neonatal unit of the hospital with each day in delaying the medical transfer. The babies suffer from convulsions, are in a coma and breathe by means of ventilators. They have not yet been diagnosed. According to the Society’s neonatal unit’s statistics, 14 new born babies were to have been transferred since the beginning of last April. Three of them passed away and the rest are awaiting the issuance of their medical transfers.
On the other hand, Dr. Muhammad Nasar, consultant and head of open heart surgery in Shifa Medical Society, confirmed that prosthetic heart valves and the special threads to hold them in place have run out in stores of Gaza’s Health Ministry. This has forced them, in the meantime, to transfer 25 heart patients a month for heart valve transplants outside the Gaza Strip. This is in conjunction with the medical transfer crisis.
In the same light, more than 1500 cancer patients are suffering in the Gaza European Hospital due to the lack of medication. Dr. Ahmad Sharaf, head of the department, clarified that about 200 cases were diagnosed in this last month of June. They require treatment transfers because most of the basic types of treatment, hormonal, biological and especially radiation treatment is out of stock or unavailable for the cancer patients. He confirmed that a lack of one type of medication nullifies most patient treatment protocols. As a result, this delays their medication dosages, which causes a deterioration in their health and an increase in harm to their bodies.
The following is a list of names of patients who have passed away due to the medical transfer crisis over the past few months:
1. Walid Muhammad Muhammad Qa’ood – 59 years old
2. Ayah Ghalib Khalil Abu Mutlaq – 5 years old
3. Khulud Salamah Abdul Karim Sa’idany – 34 years old
4. Ayman Salim Ahmad Kahlout – 48 years old
5. Ahmad Hasan Jameel Shabir – 18 years old
6. Shirin Muhammad Fahd Uly – 39 years old
7. Wahid Ismail Abdullah Areeny – 54 years old
8. Yusuf Umar Mahmood Za’rab – 22 years old
9. Mus’ab Bilal Rafiq Ar’eer – 7 days old
10. Bara Muhammad Khamis Ghubn – 7 days old
11. Ibrahim Samir Ibrahim Tubail – 9 months old
12. Yusuf Ahmad Hasan Agha – 2 years old
13. Basam Sabir Mustafa Atar – 20 years old
14. Jamil Hasan Mahmood Tafish – 60 years old
15. Ahmad Abu Sha’ban – 2 years old
16. Yara Muhammad Bakhit – 3 years old
17. Hasan Dahshan – 59 years old
18. Ali Fady Ahmad – 5 days old
19. Nafiz Khas – 4 days old
20. Baha Mu’in Rady – 14 years old
21. Muhammad Abdul Rahman Abu Sultan – 60 years old
22. Abdul Rahim Salah Ja’idy – 65 years old
23. Muhammad Ahmad Sayis – 6 years old
It is important to note that the above cases are related to the following transfer problems:
• Cases which have not attained treatment transfers
• Cases in which treatment transfers were delayed
• Cases who were issued treatment transfers, but were prevented by the Israeli Occupation from leaving the Gaza Strip.
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