Ref: 57/2009

Date: 27 April 2009

Time: 11: 46 GMT

PCHR Welcomes Resumption of Work at External Medical Treatment Department

The Palestinian Centre for Human Rights (PCHR) welcomes the resumption of work at the External Medical Treatment Department of the Palestinian Ministry of Health. The agreement to resume work was reached consequent to successful mediation efforts made by a committee established to monitor the crisis. PCHR hopes that Department staff members and the Higher Medical Committee for External Treatment will now work to ease the suffering of patients requiring medical treatment unavailable in the Gaza Strip.

On Monday, 27 April 2009, Dr. Bassam al-Badri, Director of the External Medical Treatment Department in Gaza City, and other staff members of the department, resumed their previously-held positions. Mr. Fayez al-Shaltouni, mandated by Dr. Bassem Na’im, Minister of Health in Gaza, handed over the office – including electronic data and patients’ files – to Dr. al-Badri. This process was witnessed by Mr. Khalil Shaheen, Director of PCHR’s Economic, Social and Cultural Rights Unit, Mr. Mahmoud Dhaer, Director of the World Health Organization Office in Gaza, and Mr. Hamada al-Bayari, of the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs in Gaza.

In early January, the Ramallah Ministry of Health ceased referring Palestinian patients to Israeli hospitals. This decision was taken in light of the requirement – imposed by Israeli occupation authorities – that the Palestinian Authority cover all treatment expenses. As a result, hundreds of Palestinian patients, especially cancer patients who are in need of chemotherapy, radiology and bone marrow transplants, found their treatments interrupted without any suitable medical alternatives. On 22 March, 2009, the Ministry of Health in Gaza seized control of the Department, halting its effective operation.

A committee established to follow up the crisis – consisting of PCHR, the health sector of the Palestinian NGOs Network, and a number of national figures, under the auspices of World Health Organization – conducted negotiations with the Ministry of Health in Gaza and the Ministry of Health in Ramallah. These negotiations were aimed at ending the dispute over the department, and keeping patients out of the political conflict. The committee called upon the two parties to ensure that the interests of patients were placed above political considerations. The committee presented a number of initiatives to ensure the resumption of work at the External Medical Treatment Department. It was finally able to conclude an agreement between the two parties and made efforts to ensure its implementation.

On Monday morning, 27 April 2009, Dr. Bassem Na’im, Minister of Health in Gaza, held a press conference in which he declared the implementation of a decision aimed at resuming the work of the External Medical Treatment Department. Lawyer Raji Sourani, Director of PCHR, Eyad Alami, Director of PCHR Legal Aid Unit, Dr. Eyad al-Sarraj, Board Director of Gaza Community Mental Health Program, and a number of representatives of Palestinian and international NGOs in Gaza attended the press conference. Dr. Na’im declared his Ministry’s commitment to the agreement, and called upon the Ministry of Health in Ramallah to do likewise.

In light of these developments:

1)      PCHR expresses satisfaction over the resumption of work at the External Medical Treatment Department.

2)      PCHR believes that the agreement that has been concluded preserves the dignity of Gazan patients, promotes their right to adequate physical and mental health treatment, and ends the suffering endured by patients who had previously been to go to the houses of officials authorized to sign referral documents for external medical treatment.

3)      PCHR stresses that it will continue to follow up the work of the External Medical Treatment Department, to consider complaints by patients, and to provide them with legal assistance, especially those whose access to medical treatment outside the Gaza Strip is restricted by Israeli occupation authorities.

4)      PCHR calls upon the Minister of Health in Ramallah to commit to the agreement, including the reformation of the Higher Medical Committee for External Medical Treatment in the Gaza Strip; pending such reformation, PCHR calls upon the Higher Committee to intensify efforts to compensate the period of suspension, based on the principles of high transparency and professionalism.