Israel`s Contribution to Palestinian Healthcare in 2013.

(With thanks to Charles Abelson of TbT – Truth be Told)

Quick Overview:

Since 1967, when Israel captured the areas of Judea and Samaria, Palestinian infant mortality has been reduced from approximately 100/1,000 to 13.49/1,000. Gaza: 15.46. Life expectancy has risen by about 10 years.

1)  Life Expectancy

a)    Judea, Samaria 75.69 years

b)    Gaza 74.64

c)    Jordan 74.10 years

d)    Egypt 73.45 years.

e)    Turkey 73.29 years.

f)     Israel 82.1 years (higher than USA)

2) Mortality Rate

Palestinian Territory’s low rate of Infant mortality also belies any accusation of "genocide".

Infant mortality rate compares the number of deaths of infants under one year old in a given year per 1,000 live births in the same year, and is often used as an indicator of the level of health in a country

Both the West Bank and Gaza have a lower rate of infant mortality (13.49 and 15.46) than Egypt. (22.41 deaths per thousand births), Syria (15.79), Jordan (15.73) and Turkey (21.43).

In spite of all evidence to the contrary, the enemies of Israel and the enemies of truth continue to bandy about spurious accusations of "genocide".

Massacre? Genocide? “Do not care”? You decide.

2013 Judea, Samaria:

Health Permits: Israel permits the transfer of Palestinian patients for treatment in Israel whenever required due to inadequacies in the Palestinian health system. The number of medical permits issued were (previous years also stated):

2011:   197,713

2012:   210,469

2013:   225,410

Due diligence: for each patient, one permit was issued for a family member accompanying the patient. Thus for 2013 there were about 110,000 patients (over 400 each weekday) and about 120,000 permits for family members.  

Massacre? Genocide? “Do not care”? You decide.

Emergency transfers:

In emergency situations the rapid transfer of patients in dire need of advanced medical treatment to be examined in Israeli hospitals is permitted.

In 2013 the number of emergency medical evacuations rose, with Israel providing 2,207 evacuations by ambulance (up from 600 in 2012) and 11 medical evacuations by helicopter (up from 10 in 2012).

Israel also arranged for the overseas treatment of five Palestinians whose medical needs were unable to be met in Israel.

Massacre? Genocide? “Do not care”? You decide.

Children:

The number of Palestinian children from the West Bank who received medical treatment in Israel in 2013 stood at 40,000, an increase from the previous year's 21,270.

Israel was responsible for the coordination and funding of 10 "fun days" for 250 Palestinian children, who were also joined by members of their families.

Israel spent more than a million NIS to provide various treatments for dozens of Palestinian children hailing from families unable to afford the necessary medical bills (probably unable to afford Palestinian health insurance payments).

Massacre? Genocide? “Do not care”? You decide.

He who saves a life saves the world. The story of one Palestinian child, Yakub Bachziat, 16, Bethlehem

Yakub was born at Sharei Tzedek Hospital (Jerusalem) in Israel and was immediately diagnosed with acute kidney failure. His condition led to several other medical problems, and he had to undergo several treatments in the hospital. None of his family members were compatible donors, so the family, completely despondent, turned to Dalia Basa, the Israeli Health Coordinator with the Palestinian Health Authority for help. Three days after Dalia met with the child, a donor was found: a deceased Israeli child whose parents had agreed to donate his kidneys. Immediately, Yakub was transferred to Schneider Medical Center (Petach Tikva) for the life-saving transplant. The operation and medical expenses at Schneider were covered by Israel, at the cost of 200,030 NIS. Since the surgery Yakub has maintained perfect health.

Training

Israel promotes the development of the Palestinian health system through several different programs and training.

 In 2013, 2,314 Palestinian doctors, nurses, and other medical health care professionals attended 159 courses, conventions and programs that Israel hosted.

Israel provides a special program for training physicians, nurses and technicians at Israeli hospitals, for  the sake of operating hospitals in Judea and Samaria, and to improve the Palestinian health system.

Hadassah Ein Kerem Hospital (Jerusalem) trains 60 Palestinian interns who are replaced every year. Also, technicians and nurses from the Bet Jala Hospital (Palestinian Authority) are trained in cancer treatment, while a program operates out of Augusta Victoria Hospital regarding diagnostic medicine.

During May 2013, the Palestinian Minister of Health, Dr. Hanni Abadin, paid an unprecedented visit to Hadassah Ein Kerem Hospital in Jerusalem. Dr. Abadin thanked Hadassah for the opportunity to visit and for its services, visited Arab children hospitalized at Hadassah and gave them gifts.

Massacre? Genocide? “Do not care”? You decide.

2013 Gaza:

Health: Erez Crossing (People)

The Erez crossing is open between the hours of 08:00-16:00 Sunday through Thursday, and 08:00-14:00 on Fridays. However, it is staffed 24/7 in the event of emergency.

Medical Permits for Gaza Palestinians

In cases of dire need, Israel permits the entrance of patients in need of medical treatment in Israel. Medical Evacuations- High priority is given to the processing of medical requests. The services requested by those who received permits to enter Israel included hospitalizations, long-term treatment, and short-term emergency medical care. In 2012  there were 9946 cases

In 2013, 13,734 permits for healthcare in Israel were granted, of these - 4,519 were in need of specialized medical transport, which was provided for them.

Despite frequent claims that Israel turns away ambulances carrying people in desperate need of medical services, in 2013, out of the 1,189 ambulances which requested permits, 1,188 received them, and only one was refused.

Amongst the Gazan residents treated in Israel were the sister and granddaughter of Hamas`s leader, Ismail Haniyeh.

Health: Kerem Shalom (trucks)

In 2013, Israel coordinated the entrance of 2,311 truckloads of medical supplies, carrying thousands of tons of medical equipment into the Strip. Included in these shipments were large amounts of polio vaccines, as periodic tests turned up positive for poliovirus in the area. In order to ensure the health of residents in Gaza, Israel took special measures to ensure sufficient shipment of the needed vaccine.

Massacre? Genocide? “Do not care”? You decide.

How did Hamas make payment for these healthcare services? In 2013, a relatively quiet year, there were only 41 rocket attacks on southern Israel.

Israel’s secret doctors

 The story of Israeli doctors treating the Syrians either at field hospitals on the border or in Israeli hospitals raises the question of why, if the Syrian crisis is an internal Arab affair, why are we not seeing the Arab countries putting their money where their mouths ofgten are and support the humanitarian efforts on behalf of the injured? As is the case of the Palestinian refugees, the Arab Staters in the region sit back and let the West and the USA provide the vast bulk of the funds for UNWRA.

Below, is the story of the reaiity on the ground

===================================================

Robert Fulford robert.fulford@utoronto.ca

http://fullcomment.nationalpost.com/2013/09/07/robert-fulford-israels-secret-doctors/

To help refugees from the Syrian war, Israeli doctors and aid workers must do their work furtively. When they go into refugee camps in Jordan, they change clothes so that they can fade into the background. They must be smuggled in and out. They don’t tell others where they’re going and when they go home they usually don’t say where they have been. Above all, they don’t want anyone to know the names of their patients.

They move “under the radar,” in the words of a clandestine organization in this field. When they treat Syrians in Israeli hospitals, they make sure no visiting journalist learns details that will identify the patients to authorities back in Syria.

Usually, Israel is glad to announce when it contributes to emergency relief. The case of Syrian aid is different.

Syria does not recognize Israel and forbids its citizens to go there. Israeli doctors are not welcome in Jordan, where their work has been denounced as a violation of Jordanian sovereignty. And Israel is anxious not to be involved in the Syrian civil war. It does nothing, officially, that could make it look like the medical corps of the rebellion.

For Syrians the possibility that their own government will punish them adds to the horror of their situation. This summer, in Nahariya, Israel, near the Golan Heights, scores of patients have been covertly brought across the border from Syria to be treated by Israeli doctors.

For patients’ friends or relatives, Israel becomes a last hope when no Syrian medical help is available. Masad Barhoum, clinical director at Western Galilee Medical Center, recently told an NBC reporter that many patients arrive unconscious. “When they wake up and find that they are in Israel they are anxious and afraid.”

A Syrian woman in the hospital said that she came to Israel because her daughter was hit by a sniper’s bullet. “The hospital in my town was destroyed. They saved her here, but now I am afraid to go back. We will be marked.”

An Israeli organization, iL4Syrians, operates anonymously in Syria and other desperate countries. Providing food and medical supplies for those who need them, it relies on secrecy to protect both its local contacts and its own practitioners. Its web site identifies no directors or staff but carries a defiant slogan: “Nobody asks permission to kill. We do not ask permission to save lives.”

They explain that “We focus on countries that lack diplomatic relations with Israel, transcending differences.” They argue that a respect for the sanctity of human life expresses Jewish tradition and culture. As they see it, this applies to Israel’s toughest and cruelest enemies as well as anyone else.

Since all of these efforts are unofficial and unrecorded, no one can say how many Israelis are involved. I was alerted to this phenomenon by one of the regular letters of Tom Gross, an astute British-born commentator on the Middle East.

Gross has a 15-minute film showing a couple of days spent by an aid group visiting refugees. The refugees don’t expect them to arrive and are surprised when they learn that their benefactors are Israelis. That makes some of them nervous but in the film others say in Arabic “May God bless Israel.”

The team takes along a professional clown to perform for the children while food is being handed out; in one camp, however, the adults briefly riot over limited supplies. A journalist asks one of the aid workers, “Do people call you crazy?” She answers: “Not many people know.”

Information about this work has to be pieced together from fragments of journalism, like a paragraph in an Israeli/Arabic paper: “The Arab countries offer condolences but the best role is provided by the Israelis because they are crossing the border to provide assistance to the refugees, risking their lives without a word of thank you.”

These are dark days for much of the world, dreadfully dark for Syrians. Few can even imagine a solution that does not involve even more tragedy for them. W.H. Auden, in his poem “September 1, 1939” described an even darker time and offered the only advice that made sense to him: “Show an affirming flame.”

As Jews celebrate the start of the new year, it’s worth noting that these Israeli humanitarians have found a way to make their flame burn with a brave affirmation.

Israeli Health Care of Palestinians

Once again Israel is coming under attack from a foreign government financed NGO, this time claiming Israel is ignoring its humanitarian obligations with regard to the taking care of the health of the Palestinians.

In spite of the constant calls for Israel’s destruction and the culture of hatred and demonization that permeates Palestinian society at all levels, Israel is, in fact, meeting its humanitarian obligations in respect of the Palestinians, albeit under circumstances fraught with danger.

FACT - Israel Hospitals Took Care of Nearly 220,000 PA Arabs in 2012, including Suhila Abd el-Salam, the sister of Hamas Prime Minister in Gaza, Ismail Haniyeh, accompanied her husband for treatment in Israel. Her husband was admitted to Bellinson Hospital, in Petach Tikvah, for immediate medical treatment following a serious heart condition. Haniyeh’s sister and her husband requested permission to travel to Israel to receive the necessary medical treatment because Gaza hospitals could not properly treat the condition. This was not the only time that a Gaza resident was treated in Israel.

http://www.jewishpress.com/news/israel-hospitals-took-care-of-nearly-220000-pa-arabs-in-2012/2013/07/30/

FACT – in the same WHO report referred to by MAP, published in 2012, there is a description of the coordination and liaison efforts invested by Israel and COGAT to facilitate the entry of Palestinian patients from the Gaza Strip for medical treatment in Israeli hospitals. The key data presented in the report show that 91.5% of the applications which were filed, asking for medical treatment in Israel, were ultimately approved, 7.2% are pending security check and only 1.3% of the applications were rejected, demonstrating the importance and urgency ascribed to such applications by Israel.

FACT – there was a 10 percent increase in the number of Palestinian Authority Arabs who received treatment in Israeli hospitals in 2012. The total number of 219,464 patients, 21,270 of them children, includes the companions accompanying the patients in Israel.

FACT - 197,713 patients were treated in Israeli hospitals in 2011

FACT -  144,838 were treated in 2008.

FACT -  COGAT, a military unit which is responsible for implementing the Israeli Government’s policy in Judea and Samaria, stated, “The Civil Administration, through its health department (HDCA), works closely with the Palestinian Ministry of Health to support the medical needs of the Palestinian population throughout Judea and Samaria.” The HDCA manages all issues relating to Israeli-Palestinian healthcare coordination, primarily the transfer of Palestinian patients to hospitals in Israel.

FACT - The HDCA further works to enable professional medical training for Palestinian Authority Arabs by Israel through the encouragement of medical conferences and the training of Palestinian medical staff in Israeli hospitals. Training sessions take place several times a year, initiated by both the HDCA and the Palestinian Authority. In 2012, the Civil Administration paid $560,000 to send PA Arab doctors, nurses, and paramedics for training in Israel.

FACT - The Civil Administration has also set aside a budget to finance critical medical procedures for patients who are not covered by Palestinian or UNRWA health insurance and are not able to pay privately. 

FACT - during 2012, the Civil Administration financed life-saving medical treatments for 20 Palestinian children (marrow transplants, kidney transplants, purchase of a pump for P.N.T., prenatal diagnosis, impaired intestine surgery and baby obstruction) and more medical treatments worth more than 1,500,000 NIS per year.

FACT - in March this year, a 15-year-old boy in Gaza was transported to the Kaplan Medical Center in Rehovot after suffering from severe burns and shrapnel injuries from an alleged rocket launching pad that was set up in Jabalya, a neighborhood in northern Gaza.

FACT - The Palestinian Minister of Health, Dr. Hanni Abadin, paid an unprecedented visit to Hadassah Ein Kerem Hospital in Jerusalem at the beginning of this past May. Dr. Yuval Weiss, director of the hospital, reported that at any given moment there are some 60 Palestinian Authority medical personnel in training at the hospital. Dr. Abadin thanked Hadassah for the opportunity to visit and for its services, visited Arab children hospitalized at Hadassah and gave them gifts. The Civil Administration Health Department declared that it will continue in 2013 to cooperate closely with their PA counterparts and international organizations in Judea and Samaria to advance healthcare for the benefit of all residents in the region.

Why is it necessary to review all requests for medical treatment?

There is abuse of medical documentation by Palestinians

On several occasions, Gaza Palestinian patients have taken advantage of medical certificates giving them the right to travel to Israeli or West Bank hospitals, to prepare suicide or other attacks. A dossier of these plans has been published on the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs website in a report dated 20 January 2008 , entitled ‘Abuse of Humanitarian Policy for the Purpose of Terrorist Activity'. For instance:-

•  In June 2005, 21 year old Wafa Al-Biss was arrested at the Erez Crossing point out of Gaza with an explosive belt strapped to her body. She was an outpatient at Israel 's Soroka hospital, whose emergency unit had saved her life some months earlier following serious burns injuries she had suffered in an accident in her kitchen. Al-Biss confessed to planning to bomb the hospital during one of her outpatient appointments – a plan which prompted widespread outrage (see Briefing 146, quoted above)

•  In September 2004 Suhad Aslan, was sent by the Fatah Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigade in the Gaza Strip to carry out a suicide bombing in Israel , after she required medical treatment in the Al-Muqaddas hospital in Jerusalem . The plan had been for her to rendezvous with the bomb planners at the hospital who would instruct her where to go to carry out the attack. Israeli security personnel arrested her before the attack could be carried out

Such incidents compel the Israeli authorities carefully to check the requests of Palestinian patients seeking to enter Israel for hospital treatment. The bureaucracy and delays that regrettably result are entirely the responsibility of those who abuse the medical treatment route into Israel to plan terrorist attacks.

Israeli shuttle service to Jordan or Egypt for Palestinians denied entry

As a result of the security vetting procedures which Israel has no choice but to apply, 10%of Gaza Palestinians applying for permits to enter Israel have been refused entry (statement by head of COGAT, reported in Jerusalem Post, 1 April 2008 ).

It was also confirmed that all Palestinians who are denied entry into Israel are given the opportunity to take an Israeli shuttle to the Allenby Bridge and cross into Jordan , or else go down to the crossing with Egypt .

World Health Organisation accusations, and Israel 's refutation

In March 2008, the World Health Organisation (WHO) issued a report which accused Israel of being “inhumane” in its dealings with Gaza Palestinians who wish to enter Israel for medical treatment.

The WHO report was launched by the head of WHO in Gaza who relied upon five case studies of Palestinians allegedly allowed to die by Israel as a result of them being denied access to the country. The head of COGAT, responded the next day by holding a press conference (which was reported in the Jerusalem Post on 1 April 2008) where he demonstrated that all five of the Palestinians allegedly allowed to die had in fact received permits to enter Israel for medical treatment.

Press explained that two of the Palestinians cited by WHO had been treated in Israeli hospitals. The other three never used their permits due to what Press described as “internal Palestinian considerations”.

Why do the Palestinians or Hamas use the health of the citizens as a political tool?

               a) Hamas accused by the Palestinian health ministry of seizing fuel destined

                   for Gaza hospitals

Palestinian policies not only make it harder for Palestinians to access Israeli hospitals, but they even harm Palestinian hospitals. Hamas was recently accused of diverting fuel destined to be delivered to Gaza hospitals. The condemnation was issued not by Israel , but by the Palestinian health ministry :

“Members of Hamas in the Gaza Strip opened fire on Sunday 29 April on fuel trucks that were full of fuel destined for hospitals in the territory….”

(Press release by the Palestinian Health Ministry, and reported by AFP (Agence France Presse), 29 April 2008 )

               b) EU condemnation of Hamas for aggravating the humanitarian situation

The EU recently issued a statement (reported in the Jerusalem Post, 28 April 2008 ) condemning Hamas for its role in worsening the humanitarian situation of the Palestinians in Gaza :-

“Hamas and other militant groups in Gaza have their share in aggravating the humanitarian situation, including through carrying out attacks on the crossing points… the EU president condemns such actions, which only lead to further suffering of the population…”

               c) Other Palestinian actions which damage the Palestinians in Gaza

Many other Palestinian actions harm the Palestinians of Gaza, including the cutting off or diversion of fuel supplies from Israel; the smuggling into Gaza of explosives under cover of EU humanitarian relief; and the use of hospitals and school premises in Gazan towns to assemble weapons, and launch missile and other attacks.

d) Hamas Prevents Arabs in Gaza from Medical Treatment in Israel

Hamas punishes Gaza's citizens for its row with Fatah by refusing to allow them to receive medical treatment in Israel.

http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/158186#.UiuZjDYy2M4

Saving Children from Gaza

On the background of tensions in the South of Israel, four kids from Gaza are receiving treatment at Rambam Medical Center without which they might die.


At a time when rockets are being fired from the Gaza Strip at the communities of southern Israe, four young residents of Gaza are receiving treatment in northern Israel. The four kids, nephrology patients suffering from kidney insufficiency, have been hospitalized for several months in the Children's Hospital at Rambam Health Care Campus, where they have been receiving lifesaving therapy while awaiting kidney transplants.

Several months ago, three of the children –– Mohamed and Hadeel (both 12) and Hadeel's brother Ahmad (15) –– recently arrived at Rambam in serious condition. Since then, they have gone from hemodialysis treatments (in which blood is cleaned via an artificial kidney) to peritoneal dialysis (administered through the abdomen). The latter therapy is given overnight, which enables patients to lead more active lives; soon, for the first time in three years, the kids will be able to go back to school like every normal child of their age. The fourth youngster, six-month-old Lian, is still being treated with hemodialysis, which is appropriate for her medical condition.

Now that their health has improved, the three schoolchildren are due for release to their homes, Mohamed within the next few days, and siblings Hadeel and Ahmad shortly afterward. The families have recently spent time with the staff of Rambam's Pediatric Nephrology Unit, under the direction of Prof. Israel Zelikovic, and learned how to perform peritoneal dialysis by themselves.

"Peritoneal dialysis is preferable for children because it can be performed by an automated dialysis device at the child's home, in his natural surroundings," Prof. Zelikovic says of the method's advantages. "The treatment is performed at night while the child sleeps, which frees him for regular activities during the day. It also makes possible better nutrition and metabolic balance and reduces the burden on the heart and blood vessels."

According to Mahdi Tarabia, Head Nurse of the Pediatric Nephrology Unit, who has escorted the families during their stay at Rambam, until now in the West Bank and Gaza it has not been possible to receive peritoneal dialysis. "The hemodialysis treatment that these children were given before their arrival at Rambam was associated with medical complications, resulting in a worsening of their condition and many hospitalizations," he explains. "Now, these families have the skills to administer peritoneal dialysis, which represents a significant improvement in the children's circumstances and will enable them to function almost normally." The families will receive the equipment required for peritoneal dialysis and the solution used with it from Teva Pharmaceuticals, which will convey it to Erez Checkpoint.

Mr. Tarabia points out the cooperation between the Pediatric Nephrology Unit at Rambam and the medical authorities in Gaza and the West Bank, who jointly have the children's best interests at heart.

Over the past year, the Pediatric Nephrology Unit has cared for tens of Palestinian children from the West Bank and Gaza, who have arrived at Rambam Medical Center with various kidney diseases. The Unit, which specializes in dialysis for infants and small children, has performed more than 4,000 dialysis treatments this year.

And that is a story no international newspaper or media outlet will print!!!

Rambam treats Palestinian with Parkinson's

This summer, a 51-year-old Palestinian resident of the West Bank came to Rambam Medical Center for Deep Brain Stimulation (DBS) therapy in a successful bid to control the disabling symptoms of Parkinson's disease.


Tarik Sadek Abu Baker, an accountant by profession, developed an aggressive case of early onset Parkinson's disease at age 39. Twelve years down the line, he had stopped responding to Parkinsonian medications. On his behalf, the Palestinian Authority turned to the Movement Disorders Center at Rambam, directed by Senior Neurologist Dr. Ilana Schlesinger.

Deep Brain Stimulation therapy to correct movement disorders was pioneered by French neurosurgeon Prof. Alim-Louis Benabid in 1987 and has been available to the medical community since approximately 1999. It has been available in Israel since 2003 and at Rambam since 2008. The surgery involves implanting two electrode-equipped leads in the brain and two battery operated neurostimulators in the chest

See and hear about this story

iPADS at ALEH - MORE THAN SIMPLE ENTERTAINMENT

The Aleh Hanegev center http://www.aleh.org/eng/ deals with the community of disabled children and young adults.

The following story relates how the new technologies are creating opportunities for development.

When Gila brought her iPad to work, she never dreamed what the ramifications would be for Einat, a special-needs resident at Aleh Moriah. But this amazing gadget is now providing Einat and her friends with an entirely new window of opportunity for development and communication!

Gila, an occupational therapist, had downloaded a picture application onto her iPad for her own young daughter. She decided to show it to Einat, in the hopes of provoking a reaction. Einat had never shown much motivation, or demonstrated any ability or understanding of colors and shapes, so Gila was amazed when Einat was able to ‘copy’ a picture of a house – down to the exact roof and number of windows.

What made the moment more significant – Gila sent the picture to Einat’s father via email on the iPad, and Einat’s father was able to express his joy and pride on the spot, directly through Skype! Since that breakthrough moment, Einat has been able to communicate regularly with her parents in Tzfat (northern Israel), sending them photos and video messages in real time. Because they are located so far away, Einat’s parents could only travel to see her occasionally; with this newfound way of interacting via iPad the family connection has grown much stronger – and Einat has simply blossomed!

Because iPads work with a simple touch screen, even the most disabled people are able to use the specialized applications and games. But beyond providing entertainment, the iPads have helped our residents uncover hidden abilities! They have shown themselves capable of drawing, interacting, choosing music, actively participating in cognitive skills-building, and independently engaging in sensory stimulation – all things they would not have been able to do otherwise.

Medical Clowns Improve their Skills

(Courtesy - Carmel Medical Center)

Medical clowns and laughter specialists from around the world arrived in Israel for the first annual Advanced Medical Clowning International Summer Seminar at the Carmel Medical Center just 5 minutes from out home, reports the Jerusalem Post.

Dream Doctors - Israel's leading medical clown organisation currently has 70 clowns operating in 20 hospitals and clinics around the country.

For two weeks participants from Holland, Brazil, Canada, Germany, Russia and the USA took part in a program at Haifa University which involved lectures, workshops, roundtable discussions and visits to hospitals.

The course was initiated as a resuult of many requests from "clowns" ovwerseas who wanted to improve their skills by learning about the innovations introduced in Israel.

RAMBAM SURGEONS CHANGE THE LIFE OF A 12 YEAR OLD

Kirill, a 12-year-old boy from Latvia was born with a congenital defect making right arm movements impossible. He is now able to function normally and return home, thanks to surgeons at Rambam Medical Center in Haifa.

Kirill suffered from brachial plexus palsy, a defect that occurs in one of 3000-5000 births. But in 90 percent of cases, the disability passes by the age of three months. In the case of the Latvian boy - and in approximately eight Israeli children a year - it never did.

A week ago, the boy arrived in Haifa to undergo a relatively rare and complicated operation by Dr. Mark Edelman, head of the pediatric orthopedics department at Rambam. The surgeon rotated the boy's wrist 65 degrees and set it in its new location with six screws.

Edelman said that it was only the second case he had encountered in his career as a surgeon.

"Kirill taught himself to cope with life using only one of his hands. This is a very difficult disability for such a small child," he said.

After the three-hour operation and one day of hospitalization, he was discharged last week. Kirill feels well, and for the first time in his life, is able to use both hands.

External Medical Treatment Department in Gaza Closed

The offices of External Medical Treatment Department in Gaza Closed for the 3rd Consecutive Day due to the political wrangling between the Palestinian Authority and Hamas. And who is suffering? Why, the sick of course. Following is a report from the Palestinian Center for Human Rights. This is the Palestinian version of Human Rights


The Palestinian Centre for Human Rights (PCHR) follows with utmost concern the continued closure of the offices of the External Medical Treatment Department in Gaza, and warns of the serious repercussions this closure on the health conditions of hundreds of Palestinian patients in the Gaza Strip who desperately need advanced medical treatment outside the Gaza Strip. PCHR calls for the exclusion of health services from the political conflict, and for prioritizing the interest of hundreds of patients who suffer from serious diseases and wait to be referred to hospitals outside the Gaza Strip to receive advanced medical treatment that is not available in the Gaza Strip.


According to PCHR’s research, the current crisis emerged on 15 July 2012, when Dr. Hani Aabdin, Minister of Health in the Ramallah Government, issued a decision appointing Dr. Fathi al-Hajj as the director of the External Medical Treatment Department, replacing Dr. Bassam al-Badri, the former director of the Department, and forming a technical committee chaired by Dr. Sa’id al-Hussieni with 9 different doctors as members. Dr. al-Badri stated to PCHR that when he received the decision issued by the Minister of Health in the Ramallah government on Monday morning, 15 July 2012, he took his belongings from the office and went home.


On Tuesday morning, 16 July 2012, Dr. Fathi al-Hajj went to the office of the External Medical Treatment Department to assume the responsibilities of his new post. At the same time, Dr. Hussein ‘Aashour, Director of Internal Control in the Ministry of Health in Gaza, arrived at the office of the Department and informed Dr. Fathi al-Hajj that the Minister of Health in Gaza rejects the formation of the technical committee by the Minister of Health in the Ramallah Government because it violates the agreement that was concluded 3 years ago, under which the formation of the technical committee must be agreed upon between the Ministries of Health in Ramallah and Gaza. Dr. ‘Aashour also informed Dr. al-Hajj that he must leave the office, though other staff members could stay in the office to continue their work. Conversely, Dr. Fathi al-Hajj stated that he was as surprised as the other staff members that “the offices were stormed by security services, in addition to 2 directors in the Ministry of Health, who insisted on expelling us from the offices.”


On Tuesday, 17 July 2012, the Ministry of Health in the Ramallah Government issued a statement on its website justifying, what it called, urgent administrative decisions needed to make procedural changes in the External Medical Treatment Department in Gaza. The Ministry stated that these administrative decisions were necessary to meet the needs of patients and ease their suffering.


PCHR follows with the utmost concern these developments in the External Medical Treatment Department in Gaza, and their disastrous impact on hundreds of Palestinian patients in Gaza who need the advanced medical treatment outside the Gaza Strip that is provided through the Department. PCHR believes that:


- The current crisis in the External Medical Treatment Department is reminiscent of a previous crisis in the Department in March and April 2009, which left serious impacts on the lives of patients in the Gaza Strip, including the deaths of 10 patients;


- The decisions taken by the Minister of Health in the Ramallah Government violate the agreement that put an end to the previous crisis, under which the formation of the technical committee must be agreed upon between the Ministries of Health in Ramallah and Gaza, which was brokered by a committee comprised of PCHR; the health sector in the Palestinian NGO Network; and Dr. Eyad al-Sarraj, and sponsored by the World Health Organization;


- Accordingly, the formation of the technical committee (the Higher Medical Committee for External Medical Treatment) is possible as it is a purely professional issue, but it needs to be agreed upon between the Ministries of Health in Ramallah and Gaza according to the previous agreement, which defined several criteria with regards to the work of the External Medical Treatment Department in the Gaza Strip, based on prioritizing the best interest of patients and providing them with the most attainable level of physical and mental health care services apart from the political conflict;


- The continued closure of the External Medical Treatment Department affects approximately 70 patients daily, in addition to emergency cases which need prompt action, in particular the dozens of patients that have referred to PCHR’s offices since the beginning of the current crisis seeking assistance to receive referrals from the External Medical Treatment Department; and


- Each Palestinian has the right to enjoy the most attainable level of physical and mental health is a basic right that the Palestinian Authority must ensure, in accordance with international human rights standards and the Palestinian Basic Law. So, the parties that are responsible for providing health services must take all necessary steps to facilitate the access of Palestinians to health services.

Motherless Twins Leave the Premature Unit

On July 18th, a pair of motherless twins, a boy and a girl, were released from Rambam's Neonatal Intensive Care Department. Even the department's senior nurses - who have seen it all - wept, as the twins' story is truly unique.


For close to ten years, the twins' mother had tried to get pregnant. The woman, who had married young, began fertility treatment. To her and her husband's delight, she became pregnant. At the beginning of her seventh month of pregnancy, the catastrophe began. The young woman started suffering from unexplained breathing difficulties, and arrived at the Department of Emergency and Urgent Care Medicine at Rambam. Her examination revealed a painful picture - a tumor in her lungs. The young woman was sent for further testing, which showed, to her doctors' sorrow, growths that had spread throughout her lungs and metastasized to her liver.


From this point, the situation rapidly deteriorated. In her 31st week of pregnancy, the woman was rushed in for an emergency Caesarean section, which would allow her to begin chemotherapy in a desperate effort to halt her illness. The woman did not successfully make it through surgery, however, and was rendered unconsciousness and in need of respiration. At the Intensive Care Unit, doctors made every effort to return her to consciousness. "The mother had to be respirated because her lungs had collapsed," explained Mirit Barzilai, a nurse from the unit. "Nevertheless, we succeeded in returning her to consciousness for a short period. We told her the twins had been born healthy and everything was all right. Because of the respirator, she couldn't talk, but she started to cry. Soon after, we had to anaesthetize her again."


Meanwhile, the twins, who had been delivered by C-section six weeks earlier, were transferred to the Neonatal Intensive Care Department. The mother, still unconscious and respirated, began to receive chemotherapy at the Intensive Care Unit. The new father ran between departments from his infants to his wife. Ten days after the operation, the young mother died.


In an unorthodox move, Professor Shraga Blazer, director of the Neonatal Intensive Care Department at Rambam, asked the twins' grandparents to enter the department and help out with the infants: "I understood that the grandparents would have to learn once again how to take care of little babies, but there was no choice, as the father had to return to work," says Prof. Blazer.

Currently, Rambam's premature unit is especially busy, with triplets, several pairs of twins and other infants, resulting in a 20% increase in the number of premature babies being treated. In spite of their numerous new patients and full schedules, senior nurses at the unit say they will remember the twins for years to come.

Another Israeli Invention Stops Hospital Killer

By Abigail Klein Leichman  8th July 2012 Israel 21C

“Sepsis is a huge issue — one of the top killers, often as a complication of pneumonia or urinary tract infection and at times due to an infection acquired in the hospital,” says Dr. Yoav Avidor, CEO of Tel Aviv-based Cheetah Medical. “It progresses rapidly and is difficult to treat. In advanced sepsis, all the body’s organs start to fail. Septic shock sets in and the mortality rate is about 40 percent.”

Doctors can reduce mortality up to 40 percent by treating each case of sepsis right away with exactly the amount of intravenous fluids needed to correct imbalances of oxygen and other nutrients being delivered to the organs through the bloodstream.


But until Cheetah’s NICOM device came along, the only way to determine the right amount was through an expensive and invasive procedure that can itself cause infection. Since doctors prefer not to do this, a better way was clearly needed.


As soon as NICOM’s uniquely non-invasive system received FDA and CE Mark approval four years ago, it was bought by hundreds of hospitals in the United States, United Kingdom, Italy, South Korea, Israel and France for ICU and anesthesia units. Just by sticking four sensors to the skin on the patient’s chest or back, the staff can continuously collect all the data needed to determine how much fluid to administer.


Now, trials at a dozen US hospital emergency departments are testing the assumption that using NICOM earlier would keep more patients from the ICU. This would save both lives and money, since one in four hospital deaths is caused by sepsis, and it’s the reason for about half of the admissions to medical ICUs.

The only system hospitals buy
Several other medical device companies in the 1980s and 1990s offered non-invasive ways to monitor hemodynamics, yet none worked well enough to be adopted widely. “NICOM is the first advance since then. Practically, it’s the only non-invasive system that hospitals actually buy and use on the really sick patients,” Avidor tells ISRAEL21c.


The genius behind the invention is Hanan Keren, a Weizmann Institute of Science physicist who helped commercialize MRI technology at the Israeli company Elscint. The device is made in Israel and marketed through Cheetah’s US headquarters in Vancouver, Washington.


“In medical devices, the big competitive advantage is the interface between technology and clinical need, and bringing the product to market with a business model that works,” says Avidor. “Many Israeli companies have exciting technology but few have experience with market interface, so they either try to sell the company or go in another direction.”


The COMMIT (Cardiac Output Monitoring Managing Intravenous Therapy) study begun in February could significantly enhance Cheetah’s marketing position.


“NICOM provides an effective method of optimizing fluid treatment in the emergency department, a vital step in the management of sepsis,” says Avidor.


In 12 leading US hospital emergency departments for the next year or two, half of the sepsis patients will randomly get the standard of care (no hemodynamic monitoring), while the other half get the protocol based on NICOM. The Israeli system will help determine whether the patient can handle the large amounts of fluids that can prevent progression of sepsis. If not, extra fluids would dangerously overwhelm the heart the way a car engine gets flooded.


Avidor expects that COMMIT will show a reduction in deterioration of sepsis; the number of admissions to the ICU; intubations; and kidney and liver failure that are common complications of sepsis.


“In general, I hope to see significant reductions in the cost of treatment for these patients, as well as mortality and complications,” he says.

Nazareth Conference - Apartheid?

The Nazareth conference was held recently to celebrate 150 years since a tiny dispensary was established in Nazareth by a devout Scottish couple, Dr. Kaloost Varden and his wife. The hospital was then officially adopted by the Church of Scotland and today it is the Israel Government Hospital for Nazareth, still supported from Scotland.

Irene Murray was the head midwife there for many years and through the work of my very good friend Wendy Blumfield as a childbirth educator, they all became good friends. Workshops were given which were attended by Arab and Jewish midwives and Tipat Halav (child welfare clinic) nurses from the kibbutzim and villages around as well as from the Nazareth hospitals.

The conference workshop was given by another British midwife, Kathryn Gutteridge, on the subject of helping women in childbirth after a history of sexual abuse, a problem that applies to every culture.

In the audience were midwives, social workers, childbirth educators and doulas, Arab Moslem and Christian, Jewish secular and religious. Many of them knew each other, hugged on meeting and chatted so much it was difficult to keep the coffee breaks to the allotted time.


Where are the BBC and the Guardian? Is this Apartheid?

A Day At Aleh

Aleh is Israel's largest network of residential facilities for children with severe physical and cognitive disabilities. http://www.aleh.org/eng/index.asp They provide 650 children in Israel with high-level medical and rehabilitative care in four residential facilities.

I wonder if we really understand what is needed to take care of these disadvantaged children. Let’s look at a day in the life of Shira

Wakeup

Shira wakes up to the smiling face of her caregiver, Naama, who showers Shira, puts on her body brace and splints, and helps her choose her clothes.

Breakfast

Seated in her specialized chair, Shira enjoys her breakfast of scrambled eggs and cereal as Naama helps her grasp a spoon.

School

Shira maneuvers her specially-adapted wheelchair into her classroom, where she greets her six friends, their teacher and assistant. Today, they enjoy petting Bobbie during pet therapy. This is followed by a computer rehab session and a variety of cognitive-development games.

Snack


Shira and her friends participate in a group snack time program, with a communication therapist leading the children in alternative communication devices to express their choices. Today, Danny chooses applesauce and chocolate milk.


Private Therapy


Shira's physical therapist helps her develop better muscle control and stamina. Shira relaxes in a calming, soundproof room full of lights, colors, aromas, vibrations and music.


Lunch


The speech therapist joins the nutritionist to observe Shira’s improved ability to eat by herself and digest her food, and to plan the next steps in encouraging a higher level of independence.


Rest Time


Shira and her friends close their eyes for a well-deserved rest. Naama finishes her shift and Tali takes her place.


Social Activity


Shira and her friends enjoy a short outing to the nearby playground with a group of volunteers.

Afternoon Fun

Michael, a professional medical clown, blows up balloons and draws huge smiles from Shira and her friends. With Tali's help, the group finger-paints – one of their favorite activities.

Dinner

Tali follows the new set of instructions left by the speech therapist and Shira tries to get the meatballs and vegetables in her mouth all by herself. Tali jots down a quick report on Shira’s achievements.

Medical Check

In the clinic Shira smiles at the nurses, who check her blood-pressure and respiration. A rehabilitative assistant helps clear Shira's lungs and upper airway from excess secretions.

Bedtime

"Sweet dreams," whispers Tali, as she secures Shira’s bed rail and tucks her in with a goodnight kiss.