Hamas refuses to approve payment for Israeli medical treatment of Palestinians
IMRA ^ | 6-19-06
Hamas refuses to approve payment for Israeli medical treatment of Palestinians
Lack of funds deprives Palestinian children of bone marrow transplants
By Avi Issacharoff Haaretz 16 June 2006
www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/727571.html
[The Hebrew version -
www.haaretz.co.il/hasite/pages/ShArtPE.jhtml?itemNo=727763&contrassID=2&subContrassID=1&sbSubContrassID=0
adds:
"The Palestinian Ministry of Health says that Israel should pay for the
treatment of the sick "since they are the occupiers". Regarding the
decision of the ministry not to issue commitments it was relayed that this
was a decision of principle since Israel cannot set for the Palestinians
that they will be treated only in Israel (the amount deducted from the tax
revenue can only be transferred to Israeli hospitals). " ]
HEBRON - Mustafa Ahmaro, two and a half, from Hebron, was released from the
hospital three days ago. He was hospitalized for 17 days to receive
preventive treatment for lymphoma. Dr. Ghassan al-Banura, his doctor from Al
Husseini Hospital in Beit Jala, told Haaretz that "Mustafa's condition is
greatly improved and he seems to have recovered. However, Mustafa must
undergo a bone marrow transplant so that the disease does not recur." But
Mustafa will not be able to undergo that transplant soon. It is not
performed at hospitals in the territories, and no backer has been found to
pay for the $40,000 transplant in Israel or overseas.
Mustafa is in relatively good shape, but 27 other Palestinian children are
not as fortunate, according to the records of Akhram Samhan, who is in
charge of outpatient care at the Palestinian Health Ministry. They are in
urgent need of a bone marrow transplant, and there is no one to pay the
hospitals in Israel.
Until a few weeks ago, the Palestinian Health Ministry covered the costs of
bone marrow, liver and kidney transplants for children. According to Health
Minister Basim Naim of Hamas, the ministry's coffers are empty because of
the economic siege on the Palestinian Authority. But the truth is more
complicated than Naim and human rights organizations like to admit. Since
Hamas came to power, the PA has not transferred money directly to Israeli
hospitals. So the Israeli government takes the funds from the taxes that it
collects on the PA's behalf and transfers them to those hospitals. But,
according to a senior Palestinian official, the Hamas government has other
priorities right now: It needs the tax revenues to pay Israel for
electricity, gas and fuel. "Patients are less important at the moment," he
said.
Mustafa's father, Mohammed, is in a desperate bind: "We can't pay the amount
required. We appealed through various channels to PA Chairman Abu Mazen
[Mahmoud Abbas], Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh and other senior officials.
None got back to us with an affirmative answer. I asked for an entry permit
to Israel so I could go with him to the hospital, but the Israel Defense
Forces liaison office informed me that I am prevented from entering for
security reasons. They agreed to allow Mustafa's mother into Israel, but
among us, a woman does not go to another town by herself."
Jumana Alfahouri, 2, a leukemia patient from Hebron, is in worse condition.
She was initially hospitalized at the local Alia Hospital, where she was
administered pain killers. Then she was moved to Hadassah University
Hospital, Ein Karem, but every day, her condition worsens and her treatment
costs rise. She needs an urgent bone marrow transplant.
Quite a few volunteer organizations, mostly Israeli, have come to the
children's aid, notably activists from Keshev - the Center for the
Protection of Democracy in Israel, and the Peres Center for Peace, which has
helped pay for the treatment of some 2,500 Palestinian children at Israeli
hospitals. But since the PA stopped its coverage, the Peres Center cannot
defray the transplant costs on its own.
Adults are no better off. Dozens of adult patients are also waiting for
coverage pledges from the Palestinian Health Ministry in order to undergo
transplants and even operations to remove growths that can only be performed
at Israeli or overseas hospitals. The pledges are not forthcoming.
Several of these patients talked with at the office of Azmi al-Shiyukhi,
secretary general of the Popular Resistance Committees. Nadia Rahur, 37,
married with five children, has a cancerous growth in her head and cannot go
to Israel for an operation. Maher Shuhada, 56, has leukemia and needs
special treatment only available abroad. Shiyukhi explains that "many others
might simply die. Beside the ones we're fighting for, there are those who
have given up." Shiyukhi is critical of both the Israeli and the Palestinian
governments. "Your decision to besiege Hamas hurts the simple folk first of
all. But our government must also understand that they may want jihad and
'resistance,' but treating sick people - that's the real jihad. Our
government must take responsibility and take care of its citizens."
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