6 November 2019
Last month, Medical Aid for Palestinians (MAP) supported our largest limb reconstruction surgical mission to Gaza yet, in partnership with IDEALS. Travelling from the UK, 11 medical volunteers - including orthopaedic surgeons, plastic surgeons, a theatre nurse specialist and radiographers - entered Gaza to support complex surgeries and treatment for patients with limb injuries, as well as providing continuing on-the-job training for local teams.
Over a week, the team conducted clinics, examining more than 80 patients undergoing limb reconstruction treatment, and performed 18 complex, urgently-needed surgeries alongside Palestinian health workers. The team also held a training symposium.
Mitzi Garcia, a Theatre Nurse Specialist, was one of the visiting medics. In the video below she describes some of their work over the five days and explains the difference limb reconstruction treatment is making to the patients’ lives:
Since the widespread “Great March of Return” protests began in Gaza on 30 March 2018, more than 210 Palestinians have been killed and 33,000 injured by Israeli forces using live ammunition, rubber-coated steel bullets and tear gas against demonstrators demanding the right of return for refugees, and an end to the illegal 12-year closure of Gaza. Of these, more than 7,500 have been shot with live ammunition.
Israel’s shocking - and often lethal - use of force in the context of these demonstrations has left thousands of patients in Gaza with devastating limb injuries. An estimated 1,700 Palestinians still require extensive limb reconstruction treatment. As “the only organization dealing with late and complex limb reconstruction injuries in Gaza”, MAP, in partnership with IDEALS, is planning to increase the number of surgical missions to Gaza in 2020.
Please donate today to help MAP continue saving limbs in Gaza.
