Breast screening for 10,000 women in Gaza

We are writing to you as supporters of our breast screening program in Gaza to update you. As you know from previous reports in the last 15 months, the diagnostic work has been on hold whilst Al Ahli has remained one of the few working hospitals in Gaza City responding to a huge number of emergencies. 

The 60-bed hospital currently has 120 inpatients. They had to create additional wards and set them up in two large tents in their courtyard. They are seeing over 700 outpatients a day, performing up to 25 operations a day and following Israeli attacks on their neighbouring hospitals remain the only hospital in the north of Gaza able to undertake complex trauma surgeries and provide sufficient aftercare support.  

The hospital has also started to resume its cancer treatment. They work in partnership with Augusta Victoria Hospital in Jerusalem and they have recently been able to resume medical care for those patients who were part-way through treatment on October 7th 2023. They are also starting to be able to provide rehabilitation services for victims of the war through their specialist surgical, burns and physiotherapy departments and to provide diagnostic outpatient services. 

In December, hospitals in Gaza faced increased difficulties obtaining fuel and so when the staff at Al Ahli hospital told us that they had found a suitable source, we were able to  transfer money from our emergency funds to them for this. 

Just after Christmas and weeks before the ceasefire, the hospital was once again hit by Israeli tank fire, damaging the top floor of the hospital’s diagnostic unit - fortunately no staff were injured or equipment damaged.

At this time, we welcome the news of the ceasefire and that aid started flowing into Gaza almost immediately. The initial aid has been directed to the North of Gaza where no aid had been allowed in for months, however the need is vast and there is an urgent need for blankets and tents - estimates suggest as many as 135,000 tents will be needed. 

Our friends and partners in Gaza tell us that with the ceasefire finally in place, only now can they begin to grieve their loved ones. 

You might be interested to know that in the coming weeks we will be hosting an incredible selection of weekly webinars on Tuesday at 6pm GMT (1:00pm EST) with partners and friends from Palestine. These include Layan and Tala Nasir who will share about the experience of Palestinians in Israeli jails; writer, lawyer and walker Raja Shehadeh talking about his latest book; and a final webinar with the young writers from We Are Not Numbers, Gaza who have not only been telling their stories lover the last 16 months but also creating an invaluable chronicle of the attack on Gaza. Please visit our diary page for more details and to register. See link below. 

You may also like to watch a short film 'A Place of Peace' filmed at the hospital in 2017 - see link below,

If you would like to hear more about our work or find out about other ways you can get involved then please contact katie@amostrust.org.

Thank you for all your support.

Katie Hagley

Links:

• Upcoming webinars on Palestine
• Short film from Al Ahli hospital

Breast screening for 10,000 women in Gaza (52226)

In most countries around the World October is also known as Breast Cancer Awareness Month - or in the middle east as Rosy October, because of the pink ribbon symbol. Each year in October we at Amos Trust particularly focus on the Al Ahli ‘ baptist’ Hospital breast cancer screening programme in Gaza.

At the start of October 2023 the hospital launched a month of activities to further raise awareness of the impact of breast cancer in Gaza (life expectancy rates once diagnosed were over 3 times worse than in the UK or in israel and the West Bank) and of the need for and simplicity of self examination and for women over 40 or those who find a lump of a mammography screening scan. Alongside this was a fresh drive to break the stigma associated with breast cancer and to highlight that it could be treated effectively and well if diagnosed early. 

Then on October 7th the Hamas attack occurred that left 1,200 Isralis dead and for the subsequent attack on Gaza destruction that has left 40,000 dead, 10,000 missing, 100,000 injured, 2 million displaced and so much destruction. The hospital changed its focus to respond to the waves of casualties it was receiving. 

The Hospital was bombed on October 17th and 471 people were killed. Staff have been operating since then under terrible conditions. The Hospital is one of few hospitals still operating in Gaza City. Their 60-bed hospital still has 80-100 inpatients and they currently have 22,000 outpatients registered with them and are carrying out 20-30 outpatient’ surgeries a day for those injured in the conflict.

Their physiotherapist unit has had to be used as a triage centre; however, they have just managed to reopen it. They want to have six physiotherapists based there and six others working in outpatients as there are so many injured people who desperately need physiotherapy — it is estimated that 10,000 people have lost a limb and 100,000 have been injured.

They also wish to resume their Intensive Care (3 beds) and specialist burns units as the need for both is so great. They are working with the Princes Basma Hospital in Jerusalem to provide specialist care for children who have had amputations and have just resumed day clinics for those suffering from cancer with Augusta Victoria Hospital. They are running these clinics for two days a week for people who were being treated by Augusta Victoria before the fighting started and who have spent the last ten months unable to access treatment. They are also looking to resume their diagnostic and breast cancer services once there is a ceasefire and an end to the fighting, provided the machines have not been too badly damaged.

We recently made a payment of  $26,000 which is the first of three payments for their outpatients work and for them to restart their rehabilitation work, specifically with those injured in the war through their specialist surgical, burns and physiotherapy departments. This will then we hope lead onto further support for their breast cancer screening programmes.