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Concern rises regarding Gaza health care access
Friday, December 14, 2007 :JERUSALEM, 13 December (IRIN) - The isolation of the Gaza Strip is "intolerable" said a senior World Health Organization (WHO) official on 10 December, urging better access for Gazans to medical care outside the boxed-off enclave. Ambrogio Manenti, head of the WHO in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, urged medical professionals to take a stand against the current situation which, he said, was having a negative impact on the health of residents.
Manenti was speaking at a WHO symposium with the Physicians for Human Rights-Israel (PHR-I) organization and the Gaza Community Mental Health Programme.
The WHO noted an increase in the number of patients being denied access to care outside Gaza.
Hadas Ziv, the director of PHR-I, said her organization had collected affidavits from Palestinians whose permits to leave Gaza were allegedly made contingent on their cooperation with the Israeli security services.
Bassam al-Wahidi, aged 28 from Rafah in southern Gaza, said doctors told him several months ago that without proper treatment for an eye problem he would lose his sight, and referred him to a hospital in East Jerusalem.
He received a permit and went to the northern Erez Crossing with Israel, where, after waiting for three hours, he was taken into a room for interrogation.
"I waited in the room for over an hour. Then an officer began asking me basic questions, like my name and about my family," Wahidi, who works in the media, told IRIN.
The WHO noted an increase in the number of patients being denied access to care outside Gaza.
Hadas Ziv, the director of PHR-I, said her organization had collected affidavits from Palestinians whose permits to leave Gaza were allegedly made contingent on their cooperation with the Israeli security services.
Bassam al-Wahidi, aged 28 from Rafah in southern Gaza, said doctors told him several months ago that without proper treatment for an eye problem he would lose his sight, and referred him to a hospital in East Jerusalem.
He received a permit and went to the northern Erez Crossing with Israel, where, after waiting for three hours, he was taken into a room for interrogation.
"I waited in the room for over an hour. Then an officer began asking me basic questions, like my name and about my family," Wahidi, who works in the media, told IRIN.
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