25 August 2016
Medical Aid for Palestinians (MAP) and our sister charity IDEALS responded to a preponderance of complex limb injuries by sending British surgical teams to Gaza during the 2014 conflict and in the two years since. They have provided operations for injured Palestinians and on-the-job training for Palestinian medics at Gaza’s largest hospital, Al Shifa.
This project saw major success this year with the establishment of a permanent Limb Reconstruction Unit at Al Shifa, staffed and run entirely by a dedicated team of Palestinian surgeons, nurses and technicians.
We met up with the team and talked to them about their work and life in Gaza.
Nisreen Naeem, 36, lives in Gaza City. Married and has three children; two boys and one girl.
“I started doing physiotherapy in 2001 after I graduated from university. Our work is as wide as the ocean! We deal with different patients who suffer from different conditions including limb cases, bone marrow, war injuries. I deal with patients in the orthopedics department. I deal with any person who has broken limbs.”
“I wanted to do anything related to the medical field. I got interested in physiotherapy because you help and deal with many different people.”
“When I go home after lunch, I take a rest and then in the evening I have quality time with my family. On holidays we go to the beach. It is important for me to spend time with them, to let them feel that I am always there.”
“Every day I come to the hospital. I wake up very early to do household chores. I make breakfast for my children and get them ready for the day. I make sandwiches to take for lunch to the hospital. Every morning we have a short meeting with the staff and we drink a coffee. Then we go to the orthopedic department.
"My routine is to go to all the rooms to check on the patients and to see who was newly admitted to the department. To understand each patient’s situation, I read the diagnosis. I wait for the doctors to do their rounds in the wards and I accompany them to see which cases need physiotherapy. Then I get ready to work.”
“Many patients have left an impact on me. We deal more with them than the doctors, it is us who they ask all the questions. I sit with the patients and comfort them, tell them how to deal with their injury. You get close really quickly and you build relationships, which is important for when the actual therapy starts. The patient should trust us and accept the pain that physiotherapy brings."
“I used to draw and read novels, but I don’t have a specific hobby now except reading new scientific books or watching the news.”
“The most challenging thing is the shortage of machines and materials. We don’t have the therapeutic beds and we don’t have a separate room to do physiotherapy. The hospital is crowded which affects our work because there is not enough space for the patients. But today, with the new unit established with the help of MAP, we are better off than before.”
“The best thing that can happen to physiotherapists, is when a patient gets better and wishes you all the best in your work. I feel disappointed when people don’t accept the idea of physiotherapy. Also building this limb reconstruction team is one of the best things that happened to the hospital. The cooperation between doctors, nurses and physiotherapists is only way forward to be successful.”
“Seeing my patients getting better, even when I meet them after a while in the outpatient clinic. That really makes me happy. I also love the affiliation I have with this place and the feeling that you can make a difference in people’s lives.”
Featured image: Physiotherapist Nisreen, chats with her patient. The patient was not able to walk for one year. She was convinced that she should have amputation of her leg which was affected by cancer tumor. (Photo: Lara Aburamadan)