Israel’s hospitals continue to treat Gazan patients
Rambam dir.-gen.: It’s absurd that we are doing this at the same time Israelis are being attacked, but there is no other way.
By JUDY SIEGEL-ITZKOVICHAN ISRAELI doctor 370(photo credit: Baz Ratner/Reuters)
Israeli hospitals are treating dozens of patients of all ages who came to Israel from Gaza to get healthcare unavailable there, and are making provisions for accompanying persons.“We at Rambam Medical Center are taking care of sick children and adults, and we are not looking at their religion or where they come from. At the moment, we have four – a baby girl in the nephrology department, two children in oncology and an adult in urology,” Rambam director-general Prof. Rafael Beyar said.“Family members accompanied them,” he said. “It’s absurd that we are doing this at the same time Israelis are being attacked, but there is no other way. We are used to it. We are very far from politics.”Working in Haifa, Beyar was “extremely upset” when he learned that Arab students at the University of Haifa last week stood for a “moment of silence” when Ahmed Jabari, the military chief of Hamas, was killed by the IDF.“I just can’t accept that,” he said.Click for full JPost coverageBeyar also said that he had received no reports of any tension among Jewish and Arab personnel in his medical center. “We are used to working together to save lives.”The Hadassah University Medical Center in Jerusalem’s Ein Kerem said that in the past month, it has hospitalized six Gazan patients.Sheba Medical Center at Tel Hashomer said that it provides medical center to several dozen Palestinians each month, and even now, there is no change. Most are children who are hospitalized for long periods or youngsters who underwent treatment and return periodically for followup, Sheba spokesman Amir Marom told The Jerusalem Post.“Just two days ago, a nineyear- old girl from Gaza who was hurt in her palm was brought to Sheba. Her father is an Arab journalists who writes from Gaza for an Israeli newspaper. She was accompanied by her mother. An Israeli boy who was wounded by a Gazan rocket that fell in Kiryat Malachi last week is in the same room with a Gazan girl whose fingers were amputated due to injury,” Marom said. “We regard our hospital as a bridge to peace.”
Tel Aviv Sourasky Medical Center said 50 patients and their accompanying relatives from Gaza are now hospitalized – both children and adults. Most of them are cancer patients.The relatives live in the hospital’s hotel, and there is a hospital employee who serves as a contact person and helps them.Medical treatment for Gaza residents allowed into Israel is paid for by the Palestinian Authority or by other bodies, including the Peres Center for Peace.
