IHT/DSE: Cairo-based Union of Arab Doctors holds a strong campaign for the Palestinian cause

By Pakinam Amer
First Published: June 17, 2006

CAIRO: The Union of Arab Doctors, in association with the Egyptian doctors’ syndicates, have raised more than LE 2 million in aid to the Gaza Strip in their campaign titled “Palestine will not starve.” The union nevertheless says more monetary aid is needed and more projects are yet to be initiated.
The syndicates and the union also declared that a monthly allowance will be designated to the region, where every union and syndicate member would have to donate a portion of their income to the Palestine campaign “in an attempt to lift the suffering that the occupied people of Palestine are experiencing.”
Reports from the stricken city are alarming; UNICEF has recently declared that one out of three Palestinian newborns die due to deteriorating health and medical conditions, especially since there is a lack in basic equipment available for newborn babies and there is no adequate care in health facilities. In their most recent report, the organization said that “ongoing conflict is undermining the future of Palestinian children” and that “nutritional status [is] precarious, particularly in Gaza.”
Also, the outbreak of avian flu in Gaza “poses new threats to household nutritional status and economic security,” and in turn is a challenge to medical facilities and hospitals in the area.
UNICEF reported that any “further deterioration in the socio-economic fabric of Palestinian life will have a major impact on the 1.9 million children living in Gaza and the West Bank … [especially as] ongoing shelling, air strikes and sonic booms in Gaza and increased military action in the West Bank frame the context of daily life.”
The Cairo-based Aid and Emergency Council of the Union of the Arab Doctors generally works toward supplying underdeveloped and war-torn areas like Palestine not only with medical aid but also through developmental programs aiming at rebuilding the infrastructure of the country, and through youth and student programs. Other disaster-stricken regions are also a cause for concern for the union, which tries to deliver food and medicine and provide shelter in such places. The union also conducts social, health, and educational awareness programs.
“One of our main strategies is to fight ignorance, poverty and illness,” says Ragab Al-Basel, head of the union’s press center. “And to do that we need to constantly provide medicine, food, education, shelter and jobs.”
According to Al-Basel, in their latest conference, the council had decided to take responsibility for the Palestinian doctors’ income, and to provide medical teams with appropriate training inside Palestine, in Egypt and Jordan. The conference will also provide monetary funds to the Palestinian health ministry through their different bank accounts throughout the Arab region, with the funds to be designated for buying urgent medical supplies and medicines.
Since ambulances are also prevented from passing through Israeli checkpoints, the union and the doctors initiated a project called “the emergency case”. This is a mini mobile unit with emergency supplies that doctors and medical teams can carry around and move easily with.
However, the union often faces financial and even practical challenges. Their campaign aims at raising LE 1 billion in aid to Palestine, which is a difficult goal, especially since the total amount raised through other venues like people’s donations and the Arab League has only reached LE 7 million, as reported by League Secretary General Amr Moussa.
In places like Gaza, according to the union, there is an urgent need to raise awareness of medical and defensive strategies, especially among women; provide medical equipment and medications; accommodate and care for patients with special needs; treat malnourishment in children and rebuild and renovate many of the rehabilitation and medical centers. Some hospitals also need bigger blood banks, new elevators, and efficient training programs for their staff in diagnosis and advanced surgeries.
However, the union’s and others’ efforts are often restricted by Israeli authorities. Delivery is one of the foremost obstacles.
Recently, the Egyptian Ministry of Health said that Israeli authorities have blocked Egyptian medical aid units carrying around 15 tons of medications and medical supplies from passing through their checkpoints in order to reach the Gaza Strip. According to the Middle East News Agency (MENA) the aid units planned to go through the Karem Abu Salem checkpoint and had official permission from the Israeli authorities to do so. However, when the units reached the checkpoint, an Israeli unit stopped them, saying that the checkpoint was closed and that the medical aid should go back.
The situation in the Gaza Strip has worsened as the United States cutoff their aid after the Palestinian resistance group Hamas won parliament elections in January. The cutoff aimed at pressuring Hamas to recognize Israel and renounce violence, but the U.S. boycott has only achieved poverty for, reportedly, four million Palestinians. The citizens face challenging conditions, with many having lost their jobs, health care deteriorating and hospitals becoming incapable of accommodating the sick, including critical cases like avian flu and cancer patients. In government facilities, salaries and services have stopped.
A Hamas spokesman has recently told the Middle East bureau of the Texas-based Houston Chronicle that Hamas, despite troubles facing the country, is not willing to “bow down” to Israel. “Being in power is a very heavy responsibility,” Sami Abu Zuhri had told the paper. “We prefer resisting the occupation. But with the failure of Palestinian reforms, and the occupation, we wanted to save our people. Now people feel the U.S. government is punishing them for using democracy to elect us. This will not get the United States its goal and it will not weaken our support.”

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