A Vision of Health
Al Fakhoora and QRC together with the Ministry of Health (MOH) have outfitted the MOH hospital with advanced surgical equipment and disposables to improve the quality of surgical ophthalmic interventions that ultimately will decrease the incidence of visual impairment among the community and decrease the burden on travelling abroad for ophthalmic treatment.
The hospital is one of only two government hospitals providing ophthalmic services in Gaza, and serves an area with one million citizens. It is considered the central ophthalmic hospital in the Gaza Strip, providing diagnostic and therapeutic services to more than 9,500 patients per month.
We had a chance to speak with Hanen Al Motawq, one of the many Palestinians who’s life has been measurably improved by having access to better medical facilities in Gaza and find out her story.
Hanem Al Motawq, is 54 years old, and a mother to 11 children. As she was making preparations for her youngest daughter's wedding celebration, she felt a sting in her right eye. Hanem dismissed it but her husband insisted on taking her to an ophthalmologist to examine her, just in case.
Hanen was diagnosed as having inner bleeding, which can lead to serious complications, as she also suffers from diabetes.
"Normally I would have started arranging for her treatment abroad, as I know how short in medical materials we can be when it comes to operations" Her husband continued "The siege has taken a toll on the medical sector, and we always end up going back and forth between hospitals trying to get proper treatment, in the past we even had to travel outside the country to avoid amputating her left leg. Thank God we didn’t have to go through this with her eye condition, the generous funding and major improvements to the visual impairment hospitals in Gaza might not be a priority to many people, but to me and my family, it is a lifesaver."
Hanem’s husband added, “Paying a large amount of money to get the same treatment that we can easily receive in our hometown is a sad reality that a huge number of people in Gaza have to face. We didn’t need to suffer with traveling to get the medical treatment we need, its not only the financial side, but the emotional one as well, its much more comforting to be home."
The head of the ophthalmic clinic commented on the affect the improvements have had on the services they are able to provide, “We now have the capabilities to conduct advanced surgeries, the resources that we have can compete with advanced departments in the region.”
Back in the clinic, Doctor Sheriff Issa, prepares to remove the patch on Hanem’s eye and check the progress of the surgery.
With a smile on her face, Hanem embraced her youngest grandson, while trying to hide her nervousness, only for her smile to get wider as she was assured, her operation went perfectly fine and the healing process is better than expected.
Doctor Ahmed Al Mjdalwai, praised the results in Hanem's case "It’s even much better than what we expected, which is a huge relief in such a very critical eye operation, we are extremely careful during the surgery and post surgical care, so that nothing will cause a problem or delay the healing process."
Hanem laughs, "I'll have two reasons to celebrate next week, the improvement in my eyes and my daughter's wedding, what a blessing.”
Over 250 surgical operations like Hanem’s are performed in the hospital every month. Previously, 30-40 cases a month would have to be referred abroad for specialized treatment unavailable at the hospital due to a lack of medical equipment, surgical materials or medical expertise and available surgical teams. Directly after the provision of the new equipment the number of related referrals abroad dropped by 90%.
