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GAZA STRIP, PALESTINE July 18, 2024 — Baitulmaal, a Dallas-based international humanitarian nonproft, recently completed the first month of its medical mission to support vulnerable patients at the Nasser Medical Complex in the besieged Gaza Strip.
According to Riham Mahmoud, Baitulmaal’s health delegate in Cairo and former employee of the Gaza Ministry of Health, the goals of Baitulmaal’s medical mission include:
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- decreasing mortality and complications among ill, injured, or pregnant patients;
- increasing access to quality healthcare;
- boosting capacity building among Gaza’s healthcare providers, including technical surgical skills;
- decreasing the wait time for surgeries;
- and improving the efficiency of medical interventions by providing essential needs such as drugs, equipment, and disposables.
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Three physicians participated in Baitulmaal’s inaugural medical mission to Gaza: U.S.-based obstetricians Dr. Hina Cheema and Dr. Thalia Raya Pachiyannakis joined neonatologist Dr. Zohair Lahna from France at the Nasser Medical Complex. The doctors volunteered their time and expertise to support maternal and newborn healthcare in Gaza amid ongoing blockades and bombardments in the region.
“We witnessed four stillbirths that could have been prevented if there was appropriate equipment,” Dr. Cheema said during an interview with Hind Khoudary of Al-Jazeera English. “It is heartbreaking…the stillbirth rate has increased. Babies are dying, and they should not have to die.”
Despite the daily horrors and severe lack of resources, there is still hope according to Dr. Pachiyannakis.
“It is so inspiring to see the Palestinian doctors come to work every day and give their all to the Palestinian people that are suffering,” she said. “They are working under unbelievable stress with limited resources. They are not being paid for nine months, all the staff, but they come with such happiness because they are caring for their patients.”
Nasser Medical Complex, located in Khan Younis in southern Gaza, is one of the key healthcare facilities in the region providing essential medical services to the population despite ongoing hostilities and severe resource constraints. The hospital has been severely affected by the conflict, experiencing extensive damage to its infrastructure, including critical areas such as the maternity ward, ICU, and the Limb Reconstruction Centre, which previously helped over 400 patients avoid amputation. Medical staff resumed services at the Nasser Medical Complex to care for the increasing number of patients impacted by ongoing displacement and hostilities in the Gaza Strip, but continues to face severe shortages of fuel, equipment, staff, and other resources.
Since Oct. 7, 2023, more than 38,000 people have been killed in Gaza, and more than 88,000 have been wounded according to local health officials. Malnutrition and disease have become widespread due to frequent displacement, destruction of infrastructure, and ongoing blockades on food, water, fuel, and other essential resources. The latest U.N. figures report that 23 out of Gaza’s 36 hospitals are out of service, more than 60 percent of Gaza’s primary health facilities have shut down, and those that are remaining are only partially functional. More than 500 healthcare workers have also been killed since October, while women, children, and newborns are disproportionately bearing the burden of the hostilities in Gaza.
Baitulmaal has been on the ground in Gaza providing food, shelter kits, hygiene supplies, clean water, psychosocial support, temporary housing, and other emergency aid since October 7. Baitulmaal has been working in Palestine for more than a decade providing food, clothing, education support, seasonal giving, emergency aid and healthcare in Palestine, in addition to operating 400 water tanks in Gaza.
Baitulmaal continues to provide aid during the current crisis. If you would like to learn more about or contribute to Baitulmaal’s efforts in Palestine, please visit their website at Baitulmaal.org.
Baitulmaal is an international humanitarian aid organization that provides life-saving, life-sustaining and life-enriching aid to people in need around the world. With headquarters in Texas, the charity has domestic offices in California, Florida, Illinois, Michigan and New Jersey as well as international offices in Europe, Africa, South Asia and the Middle East.
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Watch Al-Jazeera English Report Below
(Interview with Baitulmaal-Sponsored Physicians begins at 01:48)
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