JERUSALEM, Monday, March 02, 2020 (WAFA) - Close to a quarter (23%) of Gaza patient applications who were denied an Israeli permit in January to get treatment in Jerusalem, West Bank or Israeli hospitals were for appointments for cancer care, according to the World Health Organization’s monthly report on health access for patients in the occupied Palestinian territory.

It said that 14% for the denied applications were for ophthalmology, 10% for cardiology, 9% for internal medicine, 7% for orthopedics, 7% for hematology and 5% for neurosurgery.

WHO said there were 1,794 patient applications submitted to Israeli authorities to cross Erez/Beit Hanoun crossing for healthcare in January. About a third (30%) were for children under 18 and about a fifth (19%) were for patients aged 60 years or older.

It said that while 70% of a total of 1,794 applications to cross Erez in January were approved, an increase compared to 65% approval rate for 2019, 14% of the total were denied permits, including 42 children under 18 and 27 patients aged 60 years or older, and 17% of the total were delayed access to care, receiving no definitive response to their application by the date of their hospital appointment.

Of these delayed, 98 applications were for children under the age of 18 and 26 applications were for patients aged 60 years or older. More than a quarter (26%) of those delayed had appointments for cancer care (oncology), 14% for hematology, 9% for ophthalmology, 9% for cardiology, 8% for internal medicine, and 7% for pediatrics. The remaining 37% were for 17 other specialties.

M.K.