A cooperation agreement in the field of health between Palestine and Jordan. Why Gaza patients angry?

This agreement was part of the talks in Amman between Ashtiyeh and Jordanian Prime Minister Omar Razzaz.

On July 1, Shtayyeh traveled to Amman to sign an agreement between the Palestinian and Jordanian ministries of health to transfer cancer patients in the West Bank to Hussein Hospital, in the Jordanian capital, for care for them.

This decision was made after President Mahmoud Abbas' decision to stop drug transfers to Israeli hospitals, after deducting the "reconciliation" of funds raised by "Israel" in favor of the Palestinian Authority.

L & # 39; s history

• The Israeli hospital bill paid by the Palestinian Ministry of Health raises $ 100 million a year for the treatment of patients in the West Bank and Gaza Strip in Israeli hospitals.
• The Palestinian Authority has made the decision to stop the transfer of drugs to Israeli hospitals.
• This "political decision" has deprived a large number of critically ill Gaza patients that local hospitals can not handle, such as cancer, cardiovascular disease and other access to appropriate treatment.
• The decision was made on March 1, 2008, in light of the deteriorating health conditions of a number of patients who were receiving medical care in Israeli hospitals.
• Hundreds of chronic patients were affected by the decision to stop or renew referrals and were referred to other Palestinian hospitals.

Numbers and positions

• The Gaza Strip has 8,515 cancer patients, including 680 children, including 4705 women, who face increasing risks every day that prevent them from accessing appropriate health care.
• The Ramallah Ministry of Health is seeking alternatives to treatment rather than Israeli hospitals, to ensure continued treatment of patients, including hospitals in the West Bank and East Jerusalem, as well as others. Egypt and Jordan.

Fathi Sabah, father of a cancer patient:

• The overseas therapy department of Ramallah continues to slow down and avoid signing the transfer of my daughter, Rima, with cancer.
• Whenever the treatment staff invokes new excuses and arguments, the latest is the code change request, namely the Rima number of the Israeli hospital Hadassah, on which the drug is issued.
• I received a call from the Palestinian Prime Minister, who asked me questions about Rima's problem, which I explained in detail and that I promised to talk to the minister about Health to sign the transfer and financial coverage.
• Many intervened to save my daughter and work for her treatment at Hadassah Hospital as soon as she was transferred and taken care of, but it appears that the promises of the Prime Minister and the Minister of Health have remained without continuation.
• The number of patients requiring treatment in hospitals outside the Gaza Strip is increasing.

Campaign "The right of Gaza patients to treatment"

• A group of activists and relatives of patients from the Gaza Strip launched a campaign entitled "The right of Gaza patients to be treated".
• Activists demanded that the Palestinian Authority and the Palestinian government hold the issue of Gaza patients accountable.
• The campaign lamented the suspension of the return of dozens of patients on treatment to Israeli hospitals.
• In a statement, the campaign emphasized the importance of providing adequate treatment abroad that preserves the dignity of the Palestinian citizen.
• The statement calls for giving cancer patients in the Gaza Strip the remittances and financial coverage needed to carry out their treatment in Israeli hospitals.
• The campaign called for ensuring that the Palestinian Authority and the government include Gaza patients in the agreement reached recently with the Hussein Medical Center in the Jordanian capital and that they take the necessary steps to facilitate their transfer to the center.
• The statement called for the provision of appropriate medicines to patients in general in the Gaza Strip and to ensure the safety of drugs sent to the Gaza Strip.

Iman Shanan Director of Cancer Care

• The decision to stop medical consultations to Israeli hospitals, if it is taken in favor of patients, is welcome. However, the situation of patients in the Gaza Strip, particularly those who have started treatment in Israeli hospitals, is a problem. How will he finish his treatment? Where is his medical record and how is he going to get it?
• Failure to complete the treatment in accordance with the patient-specific protocol will have a negative impact on his life and, therefore, there should be alternative, viable and life-saving plans.
• An agreement has been signed in Jordan, an emerging and powerful country, but will Gazans be able to travel periodically to Jordan?
• Does the agreement cover the population of Gaza? What is the plan proposed by the Palestinian Ministry of Health to allow the inhabitants of the Gaza Strip to arrive as quickly as possible for treatment?
• The cancer treatment protocol is the same, but access to treatment is a major problem for Gazans.
• The fate of Gaza patients is unknown and the vision is not yet clear: if treatment is administered in Gaza, the suffering of the patients and the debt of the Palestinian Authority will be alleviated.

Israel "concerned"

• In early August, Israeli public radio said that a large number of Israeli health officials were concerned, following the decision of President Mahmoud Abbas, to halt medical transfers from Palestinian patients to Israeli hospitals.
• Senior health officials have warned that this measure could have an economic impact on Israeli hospitals.
• The Palestinian decision, while primarily harming Palestinian patients, could also lead to a crisis in Israeli hospitals, which will suffer economic damage.