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.
Beyar 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.