By Imad Freij
RAMALLAH, Thursday, March 28, 2019 (WAFA) - The decision of the Ministry of Health to stop medical transfers to Israeli hospitals raised a number of questions among people regarding alternative hospitals the patients will be transferred to if they cannot be treated in Palestinian hospitals, whether governmental or private, or in Jerusalem hospitals.
The spokesman of the Ministry of Health Osama Najjar said that the decision comes in the context of the decisions of the Palestinian leadership to define the relationship with Israel in light of the piracy of the Palestinian clearing funds, explaining that the current patients who received medical transfers to Israeli hospitals will continue to receive treatment until completion and will not be affected by the decision.
According to data from the Ministry of Health, the bill for the transfers to Israeli hospitals amounts to about $100 million annually.
In recent years, the Ministry of Health has been working to provide health service at home and minimize transfers abroad to a minimum, including transfers to Israeli hospitals.
In this context, Undersecretary of the Ministry of Health Assad Ramlawi stressed that the Ministry attaches the utmost importance to each Palestinian patient taking his full right to treatment, pointing out that the Ministry and within its national strategic plan 2017-2022 approved by the Council of Ministers has made every effort to localize Palestinian health services and reduce transfers to a minimum.
He pointed out that the ministry has received the political support of President Mahmoud Abbas and the Prime Minister and the Government to move forward in a serious manner to localize health service. Several mechanisms and objectives have been drawn, including consolidating and strengthening the infrastructure of government hospitals and attracting Palestinian medical professionals, whether from inside the 1948 territory or from among Palestinian expatriate doctors.
In this regard, Ramlawi said that more than 25% of doctors working in Israeli hospitals are Palestinians, and a number of them were recruited to work in our hospitals, noting that the Council of Ministers issued a decision allowing contracting these professionals with special contracts and not within the civil service system.
In recent years, the Ministry of Health has opened many new departments in its hospitals for pediatric heart surgery, kidney transplantation, ophthalmology, neurosurgery, blood vessels, burns and other specialties that have been lacking in hospitals, which was why these cases were transferred to hospitals abroad, including Israeli hospitals.
Ramlawi explained that pediatric surgeries, neurosurgery, blood vessels, tumors, ophthalmology, burns, and kidney transplantation are being carried out at home by Palestinian doctors, pointing out that the localization of the service is not ed to government hospitals that have witnessed a significant evolution in recent years, but also private hospital and Jerusalem hospitals such as Al-Makassed, Augusta Victoria, St. Joseph, St. John eye hospital, Princess Basma, which is highly qualified and obtained the ISO certification and accreditation from the Israeli Ministry of Health.
He added: "By localizing the service, we can cover more than 95% of cases, and the rest we will find alternatives for in Jordan, Egypt, Turkey, India, and any other country, and each patient will take his right in treatment. We recently contracted Turkey to accept liver transplant cases, and with India to for heart and lungs transplants. There are outstanding alternatives to Israeli hospitals."
He pointed out that the majority of the people in the Gaza Strip cannot obtain permits from the Israeli occupation authorities to go to Jerusalem or the West Bank for treatment, explaining that the Ministry of Health contracted Egyptian hospitals in order to transfer patients from the Gaza Strip for treatment while the Palestinian embassy in Egypt will follow their cases.
In a related context, Ramlawi revealed that the Ministry of Health dispatched 50 Palestinian doctors to Jordan, Egypt, Cuba and a number of European countries to study rare specializations in the treatment of tumors, eyes, nerves and blood vessels. Some of them will return this year and the rest next year.
"Within two years, these doctors will work after their return in revolutionizing the health system in Palestine by introducing rare subspecialties into our hospital departments," he said
Ramlawi called on the media to work hand in hand with the Ministry of Health in enhancing the confidence of people in Palestinian hospitals and their medical staff, stressing that statistics show that Israeli hospitals are not superior to their Palestinian counterparts. “They do not have a magic stick,” he said. “They can have complications after surgeries and treatments like other hospitals in the world.”
Regarding the amount of money that will be saved after stopping transfers to Israeli hospitals, the Undersecretary of the Ministry of Health said it will contribute to bringing about a health and economic revival that will strengthen governmental and non-governmental hospitals from private and university hospitals and hospitals in Jerusalem. He said any licensed hospital will be able to take care of any patient.
He stressed that success of the national strategy of the Ministry of Health was due to the political support of President Mahmoud Abbas, who responded to the needs of the Ministry of Health decision to build Khalid Al-Hassan oncology hospital and the opening of Hugo Chavez eye hospital in Turmous Ayya with Venezuelan support.
He concluded by saying: "It is necessary to localize the health service and rely on ourselves, especially in the situation we live in today. Any patient who cannot be treated in our hospitals, we will work on transferring him to a hospital out of the country, whether that was in Jordan or other countries in the world.”
M.K.
