- Yoland Neil
- BBC – Jerusalem
The Cancer Treatment Unit at Augusta Victoria Hospital in the West Bank is unable to receive new patients due to the lack of funding to do so
A dreadful silence reigns in the often crowded corridors of the cancer treatment unit at Augusta Victoria Hospital in East Jerusalem, but not because the number of Palestinians diagnosed with the disease is declining.
The real reason for this calm is that this main cancer treatment center in the occupied West Bank and Gaza Strip refuses to receive new cases. The number of cancer cases that the center refused to enter for treatment is estimated at more than 500 cases since last September.
The Palestinian Authority, which supposedly finances the region’s healthcare sector, owed the hospital $72 million, leaving the hospital unable to source the expensive drugs it needed for chemotherapy and other cancer treatments.
“It is the first time in our history that we find ourselves having to take the decision not to accept new patients,” said Fadi Al-Atrash, executive vice president of the hospital.
He added, “We are facing a critical situation that may force us to close some departments at a future stage. We may also stop treating patients who are already inside the hospital.”
He continued, “Which means that the number of deaths due to cancer will rise because they do not receive treatment at the correct time or according to the correct schedule.”
cut funding
The Palestinian Authority confirmed that it is going through the most severe financial crisis since its establishment three decades ago.
It, like other countries of the world, is suffering from a severe economic crisis due to the Corona virus and sharp rises in inflation. The region also suffers from many problems related to the Arab-Israeli conflict that has existed for decades.
Israel withholds the tax revenues it collects on behalf of the Palestinian Authority because of the payments it makes to Palestinians in its prisons and the compensation it pays to the families of those killed by Israeli forces. While Israel claims that these funds encourage terrorism, the Palestinian side sees them as a necessary social support.
For the same reasons promoted by Israel, the US Congress has banned direct aid to the Palestinians.
Meanwhile, concerns regarding Palestinian textbooks praising violence and promoting anti-Semitism were behind the withholding of millions of dollars that the European Union, historically known as the largest donor to the Palestinian Authority, has been, as the European bloc has suspended its aid to the Palestinians since 2020.
Salem Al-Nawati died of cancer following failing to pay for his treatment and security difficulties related to moving to Israel
And when it comes to health care, it seems that the PA’s fiscal deficit will come at a heavy price in the form of more lives lost.
For non-payment of bills
Earlier this year, Salem Al-Nawati, a 16-year-old leukemia patient from the Gaza Strip, deteriorated in a Palestinian Authority Ministry of Health hospital in Ramallah. His uncle was fighting to get him a bed in a hospital specialized in treating cancer, but the young man died of the disease before that might be achieved.
We headed to Salem’s house, where his family keeps his honorable school reports and Taekwondo medals everywhere. We also spoke with Jamal Al-Nawati, who told us more details regarding the problem he faced that led to Salem’s death.
The beginning was with the poor capabilities of Gaza Strip hospitals, which made them unable to treat serious cancer cases. Amid the unavailability of a bed for Salem’s treatment in the cancer unit in East Jerusalem, he was transferred, following obtaining a financial guarantee from the Palestinian Authority, to a private hospital in Nablus.
Israel, which controls Gaza residents’ entry to the West Bank, refused to let Salem receive treatment there for security reasons, according to the deceased’s family. This refusal led to Salem being late for a month without receiving the required treatment. After that, the family succeeded in admitting their son to the hospital in Nablus to receive treatment, but the hospital refused to continue his treatment because the Palestinian Authority did not pay the treatment bills.
Jamal Al-Nawati said: “I want to know what we did wrong, what did this poor patient do?”
He added, “Salem’s condition was deteriorating hour following hour and day following day. He was very sad, and he would ask me why they refused to treat him. I was doing everything I might to reassure him.”
Finally, following the intervention of an influential family friend, Palestinian Authority officials offered to send Salem to receive treatment in an Israeli hospital, but the travel permit granted to him was not allowed to enter Israel, and indeed it was too late.
Fadi al-Atrash, deputy director of the hospital, says that the suffering of patients causes him greater suffering as a doctor and as a person
What does the future hold?
Thousands of Palestinians are demonstrating once morest the price hike, holding placards that read “We want to live.” What happened in previous economic crises was repeated, as employees in the Palestinian Authority received reduced salaries.
Concern regarding the escalation of unrest in the occupied Palestinian territories prompted Israel to release $185 million and hand it over to the Palestinian Authority in the hope that it would be able to address the crisis. There was also a positive result of a tour by the Prime Minister of the Authority in the Arab region, as he received a grant of 100 million dollars from Algeria.
The economy in the Palestinian territories appears to be in flux with limited improvement – although international experts he spoke to suggest that it is an “unsustainable long-term” improvement.
At Augusta Victoria Hospital, the hospital’s deputy executive director, Fadi al-Atrash, took off his white coat and wore a plain jacket instead and began a series of conversations with foreign donors and diplomats in pursuit of a solution that would enable the hospital to operate.
Al-Atrash said, “International politics always causes us trouble. Being a Palestinian doctor makes you frustrated because you are sure that if you have the capabilities and resources, you will be able to help your family.”
“But you don’t. And when I see the suffering of patients who do not receive treatment, I also suffer, not only as a doctor, but as a human being.”
