Meath-based Palestinian surgeon's call on volunteers to rebuild Gaza
Louise Walsh
Three Irish-based consultant surgeons are heading up to an international conference in Dublin this weekend, to start preparing a volunteer effort of medical and construction professionals to rebuild Gaza's health system once the ongoing war is over.
Consultant general surgeon Dr Abdelbaset Elsayed will chair the conference this Saturday at the Islamic Cultural Centre which will host a number of medics from all over the world.
Dr Mahmoud AbuMarzouq, a Co Meath-based Palestinian orthopaedic surgeon recently lost his brother in Gaza, is secretary of the event for medical professionals titled: 'Gaza: Health System, Beyond Genocide.'
Also speaking on the day will be Dublin orthopaedic surgeon Dr Mohamed Shaalan who has recently returned from voluntary work at Gaza's only hospital, relaying his experiences of heartache as doctors and nurses strive to save lives against all odds, with no equipment and only paracetamol for pain.
"We are reaching out to our international colleagues to help plan a list of doctors who will be ready to go to Gaza and help get their health system, which has totally collapsed, back up and working," said Dr Elsayed who lives in Meath but has worked across the country.
"We need to think of practical ways to help and reconstruct the system over there, which will take billions of euro to rebuild but we can help by giving our time and expertise. It's not only surgeons and doctors we need but psychiatrists and psychologists and healthcare workers as well as tradespeople like carpenters, electricians and builders who might give up some holidays to work on the decimated hospitals.
"When all this is over, there are many people who will not only need help physically but also mentally to cope with the trauma of what they have lost, suffered and seen."
The conference is expected to attract professionals from all over Europe as well as Ireland.
Dr Shaalan said the injuries he saw during his stint in Gaza last month were 'the worst' he has ever seen, adding that many children were dying because of burns and massive soft tissue injury.
He had to bring over his own instruments and there was only paracetamol to give patients post-surgery in the European Hospital, where he witnessed families living on the stairs.
"The number of injuries were massive. There are no analgesics so paracetamol is what patients are given while undergoing surgery. Sometimes I was able to get a local anaesthetic to numb and give pain relief for an ankle fracture but it was rare. There were no drugs and little antibiotics," he said.
"There were five kids who had third degree burns to 40pc of their body and I wrote up a report on their injuries. Sadly, they all died the next day.
"The hospital was packed, maybe ten patients to a small room and some sleeping on the floor. Their families all stayed wherever they could find a spot in the hospital. Some families were living behind bed sheets in the corridor and I saw a family living on the stairs in the hospital.
The doctor said that food was so scarce, they gave their own rations to malnourished children.
"Even if you have money, everything is scarce and expensive. We were maybe given rice or some bread and cheese. We would usually take two spoonfuls of rice to keep us going and give the rest to the children," he said.
"Yes, I cried when I left because I know some of those children and patients will have passed by the time I get back."
Dr Mahmoud Abumarzouq is on tenterhooks each day as he waits for scant news of his family in Gaza.
He has already lost his 29-year old brother Ahmed Mahmoud in February when an Israeli bomb hit the refugee camp in Rafah.
After the war broke out, his brother-in-law and uncle were also killed in a missile strike last year.
"The suffering and the pain of my people is extremely hard for me to believe and especially now as Israel plans to invade Rafah, already bombed many times.
"The catastrophic situation of the health system will not only affect those injured from the bombing but also patients with chronic illnesses who have no access to treatment or medication."
The conference 'Gaza: Health System, Beyond Genocide' will take place at the Islamic Cultural Centre in Dublin on Saturday, May 11th from 9 am to 5 pm.