8 December 2016
A new World Health Organization (WHO) report has underlined how restrictions on Palestinians’ right to free movement imposed by Israel’s occupation continue to threaten the health of Palestinians.
In Gaza, patients referred by the Ministry of Health for medical treatment outside – often because Gaza’s struggling healthcare system is unable to adequately treat them – must apply to the Israeli authorities for permits to exit via the Erez crossing to attend appointments. Between 2012 and 2015, the rate of approvals for such permits dropped from 92.5% to 77.5%.
Even patients located in the West Bank face significant bureaucratic barriers. Palestinians are unable to reach medical centres in East Jerusalem without first obtaining a permit from Israel, a process fraught with delays and denials for both patients and family members accompanying them to treatment:
“Patients, health personnel and ambulances are prevented from directly accessing major Palestinian referral hospitals located in East Jerusalem. Collective movement restrictions were tightened after Israel’s completion of the wall and permanent checkpoints in 2006, blocking normal travel of Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank, and from both regions to Jerusalem.”
The WHO report concludes: “A very large number of Palestinians do not have direct access to their recommended specialized health care due to Israeli movement restrictions, even to Palestinian hospitals in Jerusalem which have served the population for half a century.”
The most frequent reason for patient referrals is cancer treatment. MAP’s recent fact sheet and infographic have highlighted how the barriers presented by Israel’s occupation can threaten the health of Palestinian women diagnosed with breast cancer.
We are asking supporters to contact their MPs to call on the UK government to do more to ensure the barriers to care for Palestinian breast cancer patients – and indeed all patients – are removed.
You can add your voice to this campaign, and ask your MP to support patients in Gaza, by clicking here.
Featured image: Wheelchairs at the Erez Crossing