The Electronic Intifada Podcast 28 April 2015
Last July, during Israel’s 51-day attack on the Gaza Strip that killed approximately 2,220 Palestinian women, men and children, the Israeli army bombed and shelled homes, offices, schools, infrastructure, United Nations shelters, hospitals and clinics.
In a series of airstrikes, Israeli forces completely leveled the al-Wafa rehabilitation hospital, the only one of its kind in Gaza.
Al-Wafa serves the needs of the disabled and the elderly, many needing round-the-clock care and monitoring. Since al-Wafa was bombed to rubble, medical staff have been treating their patients in a secondary location and are raising funds to rebuild the main hospital.
Dr. Basman Alashi is the director of al-Wafa hospital. During the attacks, he and his staff were able to evacuate the patients to other locations, including relatives’ homes.
Giving an update to The Electronic Intifada, Alashi said that with the help of donations of medical equipment from international organizations, al-Wafa is “back in business and is functioning” as they work to reconstruct the main hospital building.
However, the Israeli siege continues to restrict access to basic medicines across the Gaza Strip. “We still lack much of the medications, since we don’t receive this on a regular basis and our usage needs for these medications are daily and [at] every hour,” Alashi said.
“The amount that enters Gaza is not sufficient enough for many hospitals, and especially our hospital. Every week, we search Gaza to get medical equipment and medicines [from other hospitals].”
He added that Gaza’s main hospital, al-Shifa, is still suffering a shortage of many medicines that Israel has restricted as Egypt maintains its tight closure of the southern Rafah crossing.
Outreach
Despite the destruction to their facility, al-Wafa’s staff have continued to care for patients in creative and powerful ways. In September, Alashi told The Electronic Intifada that medical workers created an outreach program across the Gaza Strip, going door-to-door to treat patients and help families of the injured, ill and wounded take care of their loved ones.
He said that this outreach program may be one of the only ways patients can get treatment until medical facilities destroyed by Israel this summer are rebuilt and the siege is lifted.
“We assess that the injured — those who need medical rehabilitation — are more than 50 percent of the [approximately 11,000 people] injured,” Alashi said in September. “None of the hospitals here in Gaza would be able to handle all [those people].”
Israel’s ongoing blockade against Gaza — enforced by Egypt — means that there has been virtually no reconstruction whatsoever since the 26 August 2014 ceasefire agreement. Dozens of aid agencies have called for international sanctions against Israel in order to lift the siege.
Impact on children
Alashi was joined by Dr. Rand Askalan, a pediatric neurologist based in Toronto who has traveled back and forth to Palestine since last summer’s attack. Askalan recently met patients and staff at al-Wafa hospital, as well as at other medical facilities in Gaza.
She helped procure the donations for three kidney dialysis machines to the al-Rantisi pediatric hospital in Gaza, which she said are already saving the lives of children with chronic kidney disease. Askalan is also working with international physicians to train specialists in Gaza.
Children receive kidney dialysis treatment at al-Rantisi pediatric hospital in Gaza. (Photo by Dr. Rand Askalan)
“The situation of healthcare in Gaza reflects the same [situation] of children, given that the majority of the population are children under the age of fifteen. So the impact … will affect the children more than anyone else,” she said.
“They don’t have the access to medical care as much as they should,” Askalan explained.
“Living the war after the war finished”
In the interview, Alashi talked about several children in their care who are severely traumatized, physically and emotionally. “The children are living the war after the war finished,” he said.
“Gaza is full of children who need our help. Our resources are very scarce and limited.”
Alashi told a story about a young boy who lost nine members of his family during an attack on his farmland. The boy was paralyzed from his injuries, and is being kept alive by a mechanical breathing machine at al-Wafa. “Sometimes he has memories … remembering the sounds of the bombs, remembering his father, remembering his twin brother and sisters. That child is still … living the past as we are unable to bring him back to live a normal life.”
Alashi said he makes sure a nurse is with the boy 24 hours a day, as the electricity supply is intermittent across Gaza and electronic monitoring systems are not reliable enough to supervise the boy’s chronic needs.
“We’re trying as much as we can to use human resources instead of machines that we used to have at al-Wafa hospital,” the doctor explained.
Listen to the interview with Dr. Basman Alashi and Dr. Rand Askalan via the media player above.
The Electronic Intifada podcast is available on iTunes! Click here to view the podcast archive, or subscribe via the iTunes interface (search for The Electronic Intifada).
Tags
- Podcast
- Gaza
- #GazaUnderAttack
- Gaza siege
- blockade
- access to medicines
- al-Wafa Hospital
- al-Shifa Hospital
- children
- trauma
- Egypt
- Rafah crossing
- Basman Alashi
- Toronto
Comments
Backpack Kits with School Supplies for Gaza's Children
Permalink Kelly Leilani Main replied on
Dear Nora, (I can't find your email anywhere so I'm hoping this will reach you)
My name is Kelly Leilani Main and I work for a non-profit in San Mateo called Rebuilding Alliance - we started in 2003 to build a home for the family whom Rachel Corrie stood to protect, and we continue to do projects throughout the West Bank and Gaza to help rebuild war-torn communities and keep them safe.
I'm the coordinator for a current campaign to send 10,000 backpacks with new school supplies to children in Gaza. I heard the above segment on Flashpoints yesterday and was deeply moved by the story. We are in contact with Gaza Community Mental Health Program and Al Basma Club for the Disabled and are hoping to partner with them in distribution of the kids and in our efforts to raise awareness of the humanitarian crisis in Gaza.
I'm wondering if you (since you are close-by in Oakland) or Electronic Intifada might be interested in working on a piece about our efforts. We are utilizing grassroots organizing and crowd-funding to build a coalition of people who can lobby their representatives to open the blockade and and lift the siege. Our project won a Microsoft Youthspark competition and we are participating in Silicon Valley Gives next Tuesday - people are interested in giving, and even corporations are seeing that children in Gaza deserve as much of a chance at building a brighter future as other children around the world do.
We recently had an exhibit of Home Away From Home by Najib Joe Hakim at our location (published on your website) and brought Amos Gvirtz, founding member of ICAHD to Flashpoints in KPFA during his recent trip to the Bay Area. I am inspired by Electronic Intifada's coverage and I hope I might have an opportunity to meet with you to develop a strategy around engaging more US citizens on the humanitarian crisis in Gaza.
I look forward to hearing from you. Please reply to my above email address with questions.
Best wishes,
Kelly Leilani main