28 July 2017
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Medical Aid for Palestinians is delighted to announce that Hebron’s first dedicated burns treatment has opened its doors to patients, with the help of our partner, Interburns.
Burns injuries – from industrial accidents, house fires, and even arson attacks by Israeli settlers – are a prevalent risk to health for Palestinians in the West Bank, and can have serious, life-long effects. Timely, locally-available, and high-quality treatment is therefore vital to both saving lives and improving outcomes for burns victims.
MAP has long recognised these needs, and helped to establish, train and equip the first dedicated burns treatment units at the Rafidia Hospital in Nablus, in the northern West Bank. In order to ensure that patients in the southern West Bank were also able to access effective burns care without long and often painful journeys to Nablus, MAP looked to open a second unit in Hebron.
Thanks to our supporters, and in partnership with the Welfare Association and the Palestinian Ministry of Health, we are now celebrating the opening of a new Burns Unit at the Alia Hospital in Hebron.
Over the past year, MAP has supported the refurbishment of an area of Alia Hospital to house the new unit, while Interburns has trained staff who are now working in it. They provided fellowships for two surgeons at the Interburns Training Centre in Indore, India, as well as advanced burns treatment training for two nurses in Bangladesh and support for the physiotherapists.
This month, a team from Interburns – the International Network of Training, Education and Research in Burns – made their third visit to the West Bank to support the development of Palestinian burns care in collaboration with MAP and the local hospital teams in Nablus and Hebron.
The Interburns team discussed practical aspects of running a Burns Unit with staff working in the unit in Hebron, reviewed the new facilities and equipment, and discussed the service’s final preparations before the first patients were admitted.
The Interburns group also visited the Rafidia Hospital’s Burns Unit, which MAP helped to establish with our sister Charity, IMET (International Medical Educational Trust) nine years ago. Interburns worked with Dr Anas and his team to review care protocols and discuss future training and development for burns care in the West Bank. The Interburns Essential Burn Care course is currently being delivered weekly by local trainers, following a ‘Training of Trainers’ in Ramallah in December 2016, with the plan to train 3,000 healthcare staff in the essentials of burn care.
The Interburns team looks forward to further collaboration with both units, to provide the best possible care for Palestinian burn patients. MAP and Interburns would like to thank their colleagues from the Ministry of Health for all their help in facilitating the training programme. Special thanks to the Interburns team: Sian Falder (burns and plastic surgery consultant), Danni Mehrez (burns nurse) and Ruthann Fanstone (burns physiotherapist) for forming the faculty for the programme and for providing a great support to the local staff. And thank you to all our supporters who make this work possible!
If you would like to help us ensure Palestinians can access quality burns care in the West Bank, please donate today.