Ref: 17/2023
Date: 5 March 2023
On Tuesday, 28 February 2023, the Palestinian Medical Relief Society (PMRS) in partnership with the Palestinian Centre for Human Rights (PCHR) organized a conference on “The Right to Health in the Gaza Strip: Reality and Expectations.” The conference, which was attended by specialists representing the government and private health sector; international organizations; Civil Society Organizations (CSOs), including human rights organizations; patients and their families, and media, aims at promoting the right to health and the access to medical services in the Gaza Strip. This conference falls under the human Rights and mechanisms to promote the right to health project funded by the European Union (EU).
Dr. Riyadh al-Za’noun, Chairman of PCHR’s Board of Directors (BoD), opened the conference, which crowns PCHR and PMRS’s efforts and their contribution to promotion and respect of the right to health in the Gaza Strip. He added that this conference provides a comprehensive image of the health situation in the besieged Gaza Strip for 16 years and reviews all challenges facing the work of health facilities in order to provide better services for the Gaza population.
In his opening speech, Dr. ‘Aa’ed Yaghi, Director of the PMRS in the Gaza Strip, emphasized the importance of holding this conference and the need to create all circumstances to enable Gaza population to enjoy their right to health. He added that international law obliges the Israeli occupation to protect Palestinians’ health and ensure the provision of health services without discrimination. Yaghi concluded his speech by calling on the international community and humanitarian organizations to take action, fulfill their moral responsibilities, and provide protection for the defenseless Palestinian people and the medical personnel.
For her part, Ms. Maria Velasco, Deputy EU Representative, reviewed in her speech the deteriorating health conditions in the Gaza Strip, stressing that the EU will continue to work on promoting and protecting the right to health through its partnership with PCHR and PMRS. She added that the EU believes that health services are fundamental human rights as EU provides aid to hospitals in occupied East Jerusalem, which take part in the provision of services to patients coming from the Gaza Strip. Ms. Maria indicated that the EU follows up with concern the suffering of Gaza patients due to shortage of medicines and medical equipment and the Israeli restrictions on their travel for treatment abroad that have led to the death of 9 patients, including 3 children.
First Session
The first session tackled “Heath Conditions in the Gaza Strip”, and was moderated by Dr. Ra’fat al-Majdalawi, Director of Al-‘Awda Health and Community Association.
Dr. Yehia ‘Abed, Professor of Public Health at Al-Quds University, made a comprehensive presentation on the health situation in the Gaza Strip, tackling all economic and social indicators that demonstrate the deterioration of all services that contribute to the promotion of the right to health in the Gaza Strip. The presentation included crisis facing the health sector, most prominentl: Israeli aggressions, electricity crisis, Coronavirus pandemic, and the ongoing shortage of specialized medical personnel, medicines, medical supplies, and essential and specialized medical equipment. He emphasized that the Gaza healthcare system suffers from poor financial and human resources and weak application of laws and regulations, most notably the Palestinian Public Health Law. Dr. ‘Abed called for the need to adopt an independent commission for the quality of medical services, which would be responsible for monitoring and evaluating medical services, ensuring access to effective primary and secondary healthcare system which fulfill citizens’ health rights, and is managed by qualified medical staff in accordance with standards of healthcare quality.
During the first session, a short video prepared by PCHR was displated highlighting the suffering of patients with cystic fibrosis and giving an overall image of their suffering due to the shortage of medical staff specialized in diagnosing the disease since birth. Also, the video showed challenges facing these patients, most notably the chronic shortage of medicines. As presented in the video, 12 patients with cystic fibrosis died in 2022, which reflects the importance of taking care of this category and working on protecting their right to receive proper treatment and constant healthcare.
Dr. Saja Fatihah, from the PMRS, talked about the importance of addressing the social determinants of health in the Gaza Strip and reviewed statistics on the growing phenomenon of poverty and food insecurity, weak interest in the occupational safety, political division’s impact on the health and education sectors, and the Israeli practices during the aggressions on the Gaza Strip and their effects on citizens’ rights to housing. Fattiha called on decision makers and stakeholders to take more action in order to improve health, education and housing sectors as well as social and political policies.
Second Session
The second session addressed “Obstacles to Access to Health Services in the Occupied Palestinian Territory”, and was moderated by Ms. Ibtisam Zaqout, Head of PCHR’s Fieldwork Unit.
Dr. Mohammed Lafi, Advocacy Officer at the World Health Organization (WHO), reviewed the obstacles to access to healthcare services in the oPt saying that about 800 patients have died since 2008 as a result of IOF’s restrictions on their travel and freedom of movement to access their treatment at hospitals outside the Gaza Strip. Dr. Lafi displayed the series of measures which Gaza Strip patients go through during their travel for treatment abroad and most prominent obstacles they face. He also pointed out to the painful experiences of children who were denied treatment because of the routine procedures of referring patients and the Israeli restrictions on their travel.
Dr. Bassam Zaqout, from PMRS, presented a paper on the rights of marginalized groups with special healthcare needs in protracted crises with reference to the right to health. Dr. Zaqout said that the healthcare system in the Gaza Strip is subordinate and does not meet the basic healthcare rights of vulnerable groups such as persons with disabilities, and patients with chronic and inherited diseases such as thalassemia and hemophilia. Dr. Zaqout called for integrating all healthcare services provided to these groups in the health insurance since they suffer from diseases and usually from poverty, so the lack of drugs and medical supplies would pose an imminent threat to their lives.
During the 2nd session, a short video was presented on Gaza Strip patients’ suffering from the Israeli restrictions on their freedom of movement for treatment abroad. The video showed a female patient’s experience with travel obstacles on her way to have treatment in hospitals in the West Bank, including occupied Jerusalem.
Mr. Ayman Lubbad, PCHR’s researcher, reviewed a report published by PCHR to shed light on the suffering of patients as a result of Israeli-imposed restrictions on their travel. He also talked about PCHR’s efforts in monitoring that Israeli-imposed restrictions on patients’ travel, stressing that IOF bears various responsibilities towards Gaza Strip population under international law, including allowing patients to travel for treatment outside Gaza Strip. Lubbad added that in 2022, IOF obstructed the travel of 6,796 patients from the Strip, who have medical referral to hospitals in the West Bank and
occupied Jerusalem, or Israel, out of 20,364 requests for treatment permits (i.e., 33.3% of the total requests submitted.
For his part, Dr. Raafat Hamdouna, a specialist in prisoners’ affairs, presented a paper on “Irresponsibility and Medical Negligence Policy Against Palestinian Detainees in Israeli Prisons”. Dr. Hamdouna tackled the violations of right to health against the Palestinian detainees, stressing that the minimum healthcare services are not provided in Israeli prisons, and Israel refuses and delays Palestinian doctors’ visits to follow up the detainees’ health conditions. Dr. Hamdouna believes that the doctors in prisons are military officers serving the Israeli occupation’s interest by obtaining confessions from detainees by force and exercising the cruelest forms of violations, including depriving detainees of their medicines and periodic examinations and delaying their treatment until their health conditions get worse. Dr. Hamdouna concluded that Israeli authorities ignored all appeals and demands to save the lives of sick detainees; the last of which was detainee Nassr Hmaid.
At the end of the conference, broad discussion was opened, and attendees recommended the following:
