DOHA: The medical team sent to Gaza by Qatar Red Crescent (QRC) more than two weeks ago completed its mission successfully, conducting many major surgical operations at Gaza hospitals and making a field assessment of the status of local hospitals to come up with recommendations for future QRC projects.
The Gaza entering and exiting procedures and visit agenda were coordinated with the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC). The medical delegation comprised three senior doctors: Dr Nebal Mohamed Shaath (Palestine), Senior Consultant, Orthopedic Surgeon, Al Wakrah Hospital, Hamad Medical Corporation (HMC); Dr Iyad Abo Tayr (Palestine), Vascular Surgery, who joined the team from Germany; and Dr Mattia Fiorentini (Italy), Anesthesiologist and Intensive Care Specialist.
Dr Akram Nassar, Head of QRC Office in Gaza said: “Thank God, the visit was successful. Gaza hospitals provided us, as much as they could, with the medical needs of the surgical team despite the lack of medical supplies during the war. The biggest challenge was the large number of injuries requiring surgery, particularly those in need of temporary and permanent fixation of bone fractures, as well as having to reiterate surgeries for some Palestinians.”
In an interview at QRC premises following his return to Doha, Dr Shaath said: “This was my first mission to Gaza under QRC. It was totally successful. The purpose of the visit was to perform surgical operations for the war injuries as well as fractures.”
“The problem with war is that you often make what is called temporary fixation, then you have to make permanent fixation. Thank God, we successfully reiterated some surgeries, operated some fractures that were not treated during the war, and looked after ordinary fractures particularly among children,” he said.
During the short visit, the team performed 15 surgical operations and a huge number of consultations. A small clinic adjacent to the operations room was set up so that the doctors could provide consultations in between the surgeries.
All the operations took place at the European Hospital of Gaza, except for one surgery that was done at the Palestinian Red Crescent’s Al Quds Hospital for special considerations.
Regarding the status of Gaza medical facilities, Dr Shaath pointed out, “The difficulties that we faced included the numerous cases and scarce medical consumables at the hospital.
Also, there were some complicated cases and other cases that we could not treat due to inadequate resources and the damage to the hospitals during the war. The numbers of injured people were too large relative to the capacity of the medical staff, and the used medical consumables could not be replaced.”
One of the touching moments, Dr Shaath recalled, was when he was preparing to leave the hotel coming back to Doha. He found two parents carrying their elbow-fractured daughter and begging him to treat her. Inspired by his sense of humanity as a doctor, he performed the necessary surgery for her, delaying the whole delegation until he finished.
The Peninsula
