Doha: As part of its support to the Palestinian people, particularly in health services and vital infrastructure development, Qatar Red Crescent (QRC) has signed an agreement with World Health Organisation (WHO), Jerusalem Office, to provide Al Makassed Islamic Charitable Society Hospital in Jerusalem with basic medicines and consumables at a cost of $500,000.
QRC seeks to overcome the lack of essential supplies at the hospital’s pharmacy due to a protracted financial squeeze amid the Israeli crackdown on the Palestinian people and institutions and help them meet their needs for health and social services.
Despite a shortage of medical supplies, the hospital has continued to help patients. Recently, it has received over 300 critical cases referred from Gaza following last year’s war, who were all treated for free. It has also accommodated those injured in West Bank and Jerusalem clashes as a result of the war on Gaza.
This additional burden caused an overconsumption and depletion of many crucial medications and consumables.
QRC’s initiative is a humanitarian attempt to deal with the difficulty faced by the hospital and its patients.
In partnership with Islamic Development Bank, QRC is conducting a major project to develop the hospital to enable it to continue its medical and educational services for the Palestinians.
Established in 1968, the 8,000sqm hospital overlooking Al Aqsa Mosque offers cheaper medical care for Palestinians, especially poor and low-income patients, who are in a majority in the Palestinian society amid the Israeli economic blockade. In some cases, the poorest are served for free.
With 250 beds, 70 of which in the ICU, the hospital is run by 800 medical, technical and administrative staff. It is the largest and oldest medical facility to serve Jerusalem Arab inhabitants and cases from the West bank and Gaza.
It is a main destination for medical referrals; 60-70 percent of its annual patients are referred by the Palestinian Ministry of Health.
The hospital is also a leading Palestinian medical education institution, recognised by the Palestine Medical Council as a training centre for resident physicians in nine specialities: Obstetrics & gynaecology, paediatrics, internal medicine, general surgery, orthopaedics, cardiac surgery, neurosurgery, anaesthesia and diagnostic radiology.
QNA
