MAP UK

Text only

Fikr, MAP's Deputy Programme Coordinator in the Occupied Territories.

Cancer in Gaza - Kamal's Story

Cick here to read the full story

MAP’s visit to Al Shifa Hospital and Al Nasser Pediatric Hospital - December 6, 2007

select this link for the report of the meeting

MAP Attends Meeting on Gaza Water and Sanitation - December 2, 2007

The purpose of the meeting was to highlight the following:

· A review of the water and sanitation situation with regards to electricity, fuel and spare parts

· Assessment of the kind of support and intervention needed

select this link for Full Article

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

MAP News

  MAP?s Visit to Adorra Pediatric Hospital   7th of Feb. 2008   Adorra Pediatric hospital is located in Al Tufah Zone, Gaza City and serves children from Al daraj, Al Zietoun, Al Shijaeya and Al Tufah.   The total population in the area is 160,000.   The director of the hospital Dr. Bashir Abu Jarrad indicated that the hospital suffers from the following   - Lack of spare parts and maintenance: The ICU department has a capacity for four beds, but currently only two beds are working as two mechanical ventilators need maintenance. - Shortages in Linen and bed covers. - Shortages in heaters to heat the patient rooms and the examination rooms. -ECHO Doppler: a machine that used for diagnoses of cardiology problems. -No Fresh food: including fruit, vegetables, yogurts and eggs. -Proper furniture: Chairs, telephone sets, gas cylinders   During MAP?s visit to the different departments at the hospital we stopped at the Pediatric Cardiology department where the baby Kawthar Hammad was on one of the beds. Kawther is a new born baby, 40 days old, she was diagnosed with Dextro transposition of great arteries.   She was admitted to the hospital and is now waiting to be referred to a hospital in Israel. Her Mother Manal Hammad was sitting on a chair beside the bed of her baby lifting a tube of oxygen close to Kawather nose. MAP asked if there was an oxygen hood or tent available in the hospital in order to keep the tube under, unfortunately the answer was no, Manal was sitting on the chair for three days lifting the oxygen tube close to her baby nose. However the mother didn?t have a bed to sleep on during the night but her complaints focused on the lack of heating. She said, it?s very cold here, I afraid that my baby?s health will deteriorate, she mentioned that there is no hot water and there was no place to heat water to use when she change the diapers.     Kawather mother holding the oxygen tube next to her baby nose     At the ICU department, MAP noticed that there were only two beds completely equipped and filled by two children, one of them had been there for four years. His name is Marwan Al Khur and he was diagnosed as baby with a congenital heart disease. He now lives on a mechanical ventilator. The Marwan Family lives in Gaza city, but they rarely visit him as they can?t afford the local transportation to the hospital. Apart from drugs and the mechanical ventilation, the child has some daily needs that include diapers and Ensure (cans of nutrients).   The staff at the hospitals including doctors and nurses buys the diapers from their own pockets as the hospital can?t provide it.       Marwan Al Khur has been in the same bed for four years   In the same department, there were two beds that were not engaged. The main reason is that doctors can?t admit new cases because the two ventilators need maintenance. The beds have not been used for four months.   At the hospital pharmacy: it was indicated that there was a deficiency of some drugs, some of them considered life saving drugs. These included Adrenaline, Rocephin, Claforan, Zinnicef, Luminal, Mycalcic, Dextroz saline and Isomeal, this is in addition to the deficiency of other disposables such as sterile gauze, pediatric electrodes, tracheostomy and cannulas.   At the hospital laboratory: The blood gas machine was labeled as out of order. The staff at the department indicated that: the electrolyte machine is partially working, and that the reagents for blood gases and calcium were not available. The stago for the PT and PTT tests also not available.   The X ray department suffer from a shortage of fluoroscopy machine, UPS for the ultrasound machine and the processer is very old and doing its? proper job.   In the outpatient department that was opened recently, a lot of basic materials are needed. These include Auto scope, ECG, pulse oxymeters, heaters for the examination rooms and fans.   The hospital has only one generator, the ideal storage of fuel has to be 5,600 liter but actually the storage was only 3,000 liter. The generator consumes 50 L/hr. The daily power cut at the hospital is 8-12 hour.   The kitchen at the hospital was empty except of some beans and macaroni, no fresh food was available, the refrigerators were empty. The food tray provided for patients contained only piece of meat & macaroni and bread, there was no salad, vegetable or fruit. The chief at the kitchen indicated that daily he cook rice or macaroni with meat or chicken and for the dinner they provide the beans with bread.   

MAP Delivers Emergency Aid into Gaza - January 2008

MAP delivered supplies from an emergency surgical kit to the Ministry of Health in response to the worsening situation in Gaza.

MAP Reports on Situation in Gaza - January 2008

Report on the situation in Gaza on 23.1.2008 from MAP staff:

?In the early hours of this morning, some Palestinians militants blew up the wall between the Gaza strip and Egypt.   Thousands of Gazan people, including patients, have crossed into Egypt and many of them have brought a lot of Egyptians goods including some food items, clothes, shoes, construction materials, fuel, cigarettes and so on.   It?s not clear for how long the crossing will remain open, the rumors say 4-5 days. So Far, there is no official response from the Egyptian government.   This all happened after a demonstration organized by 200 women yesterday. These women crossed into Egypt through Rafah crossing, the Egyptians tried to prevent them of crossing by using force, at least 40 women were injured and the rest of the women were obliged to return back to Gaza.   In General, Gazan people are delighted and breathing some freedom, the telephone and the mobile networks are so busy as if today is a national holiday?.

 

MAP?s Dr Ahmad?s Visit to Al-Waleed Camp, Iraq

  25-26 /11/2007   ?On my way to the camp, the American forces at the Iraqi border were inspecting all the cars. They ordered both of us to get out of the car and inspected the driver and I. They then took pictures of our eyes with a special camera, I think it was a corneal stumps.   On 1 st day I was sharing the facilities with a surgeon who visits the camp regularly and is producing a seminar about the risks of cold exposure, explaining how it could be preventable in the presence of teachers and staff in the school. This was in reaction to a frostbite case that had been seen in the camp.   In the clinic I saw a 31 patients on 1 st day and a 51 patients on 2 nd . I saw a report of a mentally retarded patient who had chronic-active-tuberculosis, in addition he has multiple drugs resistance. I explained to his relatives the risk of spread infection to them and to the camp in the presence of UNHCR?s field officer.   On a positive not they have started to build a fence around the school and are preparing to open a small sewing factory   On my way to back Syria, Dr. AL-A'ney, who is a field officer of UNHCR, told me of the plan for the resettlement of 120 people from the camp to the Sudan at end of this year?.  

MAP meeting with Dr. Basem Naim, Minister of Health, Gaza and Dr. Medhat Abbas, former Director of Shifa Hospital, and the Public Relations Director at MOH at present.

  24/10/2007   The Minister stated that it has not been possible since June 07 to carry out any developmental work in the health sector. Instead they are concentrating solely on dealing with emergencies. They currently have good plans for the different sectors of Health, however due to the siege and closure imposed on Gaza none have been implemented. For example, the MOH has established a new burns unit that is nearly finished and can soon be functioning, however a 2X2 meter room needs to be completed costing not more than $4,000-5,000, yet they lack the cement and 2 compressors needed to complete the unit.      Medical equipment requires spare parts. However while the Israelis announce that they allow access to humanitarian items in Gaza, it is not clear what is humanitarian and what is not. For example, the spare parts for medical equipment are not considered humanitarian.   MOH needs are not limited to medicines, they have many other needs that are important for them to keep functioning and providing even the basic services, such as:     We have to say that health services are connected to each other as a chain and anything missing will have its negative impact on the whole.   MOH has a concern about keeping some services running such as the care for pregnant women and patients with chronic disease due to lack of medications. The vaccination programme is ongoing, but it is crucial that vaccines are given to children on time according to specific schedules with names of children in each area for specific diseases. There is always interruption and delays which make the vaccination sometimes useless. At present many departments within MOH are functioning, but there is no way to guarantee even short-term sustainability. MOH had to stop all elective surgeries due to lack of gas for the anesthesia machines. Surgery was provided only to emergency cases. A rapid decline in health service provision has negative psycho-social impact not only on patients, but also the staff, who are in the front line and get both blame and angry reactions from the patients.   The MOH estimates that health services have deteriorated by 20-30% since June 07, before which time the services were anyway weak.   To the MOH advocacy is more important than any medical help. One of the main problems is referral out of Gaza. From the daily average of 50-70 patients needing medical care out of Gaza, only most urgent cases, not more than 3- 4 people, are allowed to have access. Thus, there is no clear definition of urgent cases, it is up to the army officers on the borders and it all depends on ?security? measures and intelligence. Cancer patients are not considered urgent cases, and when their situation becomes very urgent and sever, the Israelis think they are not worth having access to medical care as they are going to die soon. Also, the donor policies do not prioritize supporting cancer patients for the same reason. The same applies to the care of elderly.   The priorities of MOH are:   Maintenance and spare parts Special hospital for children Shifa Hospital Water pumps Fuel Air conditioning and generators Laundries   The Ministry has agreed to keep MAP updated on the change in the situation with clear indicators. Also they gave MAP the list of most urgent medications needed at present.     MAP is a Charitable Company Limited by Guarantee. Registered Number 3038352 England. Charity Registration No. 1045315. Website Terms and Conditions

Change Text Only Settings

Graphic version of this page