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Saleem, a 16-year-old child with leukaemia, dies after barriers to hospital admission
Saleem An-Nawati was 16 years old from Gaza and had acute leukaemia diagnosed in late 2021. He was initially referred for an appointment at An-Najah University Hospital in Nablus in the West Bank on 28 November 2021, but he received no definitive response to his permit application in time for his appointment. Saleem was delayed a permit to reach treatment on two further occasions, for appointments at An-Najah Hospital on 6 and 19 December.
Finally, on 26 December 2021, Saleem travelled to Nablus accompanied by his uncle, after receiving a permit. However, on 21 December 2021 An-Najah University Hospital had announced that it would be unable to receive patients referred by the Palestinian Ministry of Health because of outstanding debts affecting the procurement of essential medicines and supplies. After reaching the hospital, Saleem was not admitted and instead went with his uncle to the department for referrals in Ramallah. The Services Purchasing Unit of the Ministry of Health tried to secure a referral to several Palestinian hospitals but none were able to accept Saleem, who had been referred for specialist investigations for acute leukaemia. On 3 January, the referrals department contacted Ichilov Hospital in Tel Aviv, where an appointment was secure for 9 January.
After his travel to the West Bank, Saleem’s family appealed through different routes for his admission to hospital. condition deteriorated. After an appointment had been secured at Ichilov Hospital for 9 January, the family was advised that Saleem should return to Gaza in order to apply for a permit to reach the hospital as direct referral from the West Bank would not be possible.
During his time in the West Bank, Saleem’s health deteriorated substantially. On 9 January, he again attended the Services Purchasing Unit with his uncle trying to resolve the issue of his direct referral to Ichilov Hospital. Saleem was visibly unwell and was rushed to the Palestinian Medical Complex by ambulance as an emergency case, where he died shortly afterwards.
Palestine receives its largest COVAX shipment, funded by the Governments of Germany and Italy
30 December 2021 – Last night, Palestine received its largest COVAX shipment to date, containing more than 453 600 doses of the Moderna COVID-19 vaccine, funded by the Governments of Germany and Italy. The vaccine doses were transferred to the Ministry of Health’s vaccine storage facilities in the West Bank and Gaza Strip.
Further consignments of COVAX vaccine doses are planned for Palestine to cover 20% of the population – approximately 1 million people. These doses are for both the West Bank and the Gaza Strip, according to the prioritization criteria of the national deployment and vaccination plan.
COVAX is a global facility representing partnership between the World Health Organization (WHO), GAVI - the Vaccine Alliance, United Nation’s Children Fund (UNICEF) and the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI) working on the equitable distribution of COVID-19 vaccines. It includes 190 countries with a total population of more than 7 billion people and ensures fair and equal access to COVID-19 vaccines supplied through UNICEF. WHO and UNICEF are supporting the Government of Palestine’s national vaccination campaign.
For more information:
Damian Rance
Chief of Communications
UNICEF Palestine
World Health Organization launches a series of Mass Casualty Management (MCM) Training targeting main public hospitals in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank
23 December 2021 - With generous support from the oPt Humanitarian Fund, the European Union Humanitarian Aid and the Swiss Development Cooperation (SDC), the World Health Organization (WHO) completed the first of a series of Mass Casualty Management training for Shifa hospital’s emergency department in Gaza. It is the first of its kind in the occupied Palestinian territory (oPt). The training targeted high-level representation of the hospital and included the hospital’s general director, heads of emergency and surgical departments, and the administration of the medical complex.
The occupied Palestinian territory has faced numerous conflicts in densely populated urbanised areas, often resulting in large numbers of civilian casualties. Recently this has manifested in over 2,200 injuries in the Gaza Strip and 261 deaths over a period of 11 days1 during the May 2021 escalation of hostilities, topping the already existing 36,143 injuries and 214 deaths resulting from the 15 month-long Great March of Return mass demonstrations2.
WHO pro-actively supports building the capacity of the public health system to manage large numbers of casualties at the same time beyond the system’s usual capacity. This will be made possible by enhancing emergency preparedness and response by expanding the Mass Casualty Management knowledge, attitude, practice, and concepts at the emergency department level and collectively addressing the complete cycle of mitigation, preparedness, response and recovery.
Commenting on its importance, Dr. Mohammed Attar, Head of Emergency Unit at the General Hospitals’ Administration and an active participant of the Mass Casualty Management training, said: “ the training is a priority and a dream to us. We are convinced that the emergency system in hospitals is in dire need to this kind of knowledge and practice”.
Palestinian medical leaders were trained to manage large influx of mass casualty incidents, addressing the systemic gaps in mass casualty management. Through this unprecedented activity, the World Health Organization has initiated a process for establishing the minimum standard operational procedures for MCM at the emergency departments’ level.
The training was planned, organized and delivered by MCM certified WHO experts, with technical support from the WHO Academy and coordination with the Trauma Operational and Advisory Team TOpAT from the WHO regional office. The training course will be delivered to the main public hospitals in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank.
Dr. Mohammed Attar added: “If continued and if its protocols are adopted, the training will positively affect the emergency departments. Our gratitude is extended to the WHO team Dr. Gargavanis, Dr. Abu Teir and Dr. Abu Olwan) for their continuous support”.
For further information
Gaza
Raghda AbuShahla
+970 599499907
Jerusalem
Kazem Abu Khalaf
+972 542168723
1 OCHA oPt: The Humanitarian Bulletin | Gaza after the May escalation - November 2021
2 Two years on: people injured and traumatized during the “Great March of Return” are still struggling
World Health Organization and the Korea International Cooperation Agency sign off on establishing two Public Rehabilitation Outpatient Centres and Capacity building
Ramallah – West Bank, 09 December 2021 - Dr. Youseung Shin, the country Director of the Korea International Cooperation Agency (KOICA) in Palestine, and Dr. Richard Peeperkorn Representative of the World Health Organization (WHO) in the occupied Palestinian territory (oPt) signed off today on an agreement to establish two new Public Rehabilitation Outpatient Centers in Ramallah and Qabatiya in the West Bank, in coordination with the Palestinian Ministry of Health (MoH).
The first of its kind for the MoH in the middle and north of the West Bank, the 1.9 million Dollar project comes to support MoH in strengthening their health system by developing the two outpatient rehabilitation centres and ensuring Palestinian people will have improved access to evidence-based rehabilitation services. WHO will focus on building the capacity of 30 specialised MoH staff, who will be assigned to provide services at the centres and develop operational guidelines. In addition, WHO will be responsible for providing the two new centres (1,054 sqm total) with the adequate medical equipment and assistive products to help the centres’ MoH staff deliver comprehensive rehabilitation services that includes physiotherapy, speech therapy, occupational therapy, and mental health.
Thanking KOICA for supporting such an important project, Dr Richard Peeperkorn, the WHO Representative in oPt, said: “I would like to extend our sincere thanks to KOICA for funding this much needed rehabilitation project. The first of its kind for MoH, the project is expected to strengthen the rehabilitation services for Palestinian people in need. WHO in oPt is proud to be part of this partnership with KOICA and MOH.”
Expressing KOICA’s and the Korean Government continuo support to Palestine Dr. Youseung Shin the Country Director of KOICA in Palestine said: "We are happy to launch this new project in collaboration with the WHO oPt even under the current pandemic. It is designed to support vulnerable groups by strengthening public health services and relieving the government healthcare expenditure burden."
KOICA has supported the health sector since 2011 by establishing primary health care clinics in Jenin city with a budget of USD 3.2M and various follow-ups provided continuously to these clinics. Furthermore, KOICA supported the efforts of the Ministry of Health during the COVID-19 pandemic by delivering preventive and medical consumables.
KOICA has supported Palestine since 1994 and has provided USD 84,420,000 of assistance till the end of 2020. KOICA’s programs focus on providing quality health services to all Palestinians, quality education for youth, creating decent job opportunities, and government capacity building for quality public services.
