Premature newborns at “Al-Shifa Hospital”…don’t know their parents
After difficult weeks during which premature babies lived in tragic conditions at the Al-Shifa hospital in Gaza City, Egyptian hospitals welcomed 28 children from the Gaza Strip on Monday, after a long journey and careful preparations, for ensure their safe arrival from the Gaza Strip. from the north of the Gaza Strip to its south, before finalizing arrangements for their transfer to receive healthcare.
Egyptian Health Minister Khaled Abdel Ghaffar announced the arrival of the children in front of Al-Arish General Hospital in North Sinai, which alone welcomed 16 premature babies, while another 12 children were transferred to Al-Arish Airport in preparation for treatment in Cairo.
Asharq Al-Awsat accompanied the transfer of the children from the Emirates hospital to Rafah, south of the Gaza Strip, in Egyptian territory, and spoke with some families and doctors about their conditions after about 7 weeks of siege inside the Al-Shifa hospital.
The premature babies were evacuated from Al-Shifa hospital, the largest hospital in the Gaza Strip, after it was at the center of Israeli military attacks in recent days, which ended with its evacuation. The evacuation operation, according to a statement from the Red Crescent, was coordinated by the World Health Organization and the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA).
Dr Mahmoud Salama, head of the nursery department at Emirates Hospital in Rafah, told Asharq Al-Awsat that 31 children arrived last Sunday (at Emirates Hospital) after being evacuated from Al-Awsat Hospital Shifa, to receive treatment for 24 hours in preparation for their transfer for treatment in Egypt. But he explained that “some of the cases who arrived from Al-Shifa hospital were not transferred to Egypt because their conditions had improved.”
Regarding the medical conditions of the children, Dr. Salama said that “their conditions ranged from stable to serious”, stressing that among them there were “very difficult” cases that were treated directly, and most of them he suffered from severe low temperatures and malnutrition, in addition to hypoglycemia and low blood levels.
Children who have lost their parents
Medical sources in Al-Arish told Asharq Al-Awsat that “the children were accompanied only by 5 mothers and 5 nurses from the Emirates hospital in Khan Yunis in the Gaza Strip”. Ahmed Samir Abu Adam, one of the nurses accompanying the children, told Asharq Al-Awsat that they had come with the children because their families were no longer there, stressing that “some of the fathers and mothers of the children are among martyrs and missing persons”.
Dr Salama confirms the same information regarding the absence of the children’s parents, and said there was not enough information available about them, as “each child arrived with only the mother’s name” with no other details and no addresses of contact with his families. The doctor adds: “There is at least one child who has no information about himself or his family, while there are children who have lost all their families.”
Ibrahim Shamlakh, the uncle of one of the babies, arrived at the Emirates Hospital, after medical teams invited families of premature babies or their relatives to come to the hospital to identify and check on their children. He told Asharq Al-Awsat that contact with the child’s family in Gaza City had been cut off, “and we don’t know if they are alive or dead”, adding that he had come to check on the child and organize his travel to complete treatment abroad. .
Birth in war
Aya Al-Daour, mother of two premature babies (twins), told a chapter of her suffering in Asharq Al-Awsat, saying she gave birth to her baby on the fifth day of the war in Al-Shifa hospital. they then returned to the north of the Gaza Strip before having to move south to the city of Khan Yunis, while the two girls remained in the hospital’s premature ward.
He added, while in the Emirates hospital, that for 39 days he had not seen his daughters other than at their birth, continuing: “My heart has been broken for them throughout this time… and the anxiety and fear accompanied me constantly, especially when the bombing threat was launched (Al-Shifa). “I came to check on them, but they need more care.”
The World Health Organization said Monday that three premature babies who were part of a large group evacuated to Egypt remained in a hospital in southern Gaza receiving further treatment. A spokesperson for the organization said in an email to Reuters: “28 children have now arrived safely in Egypt… and there are still 3 children in the Emirates hospital continuing to receive treatment.” .
On Monday, Egypt’s health minister also received 62 Palestinian cancer patients at Al-Arish airport before they left for Turkey. This is the second group of Gazans transferred to Turkey after two planes transported 27 Palestinian patients and 13 of their companions last Wednesday.
In the same context, the Egyptian Minister of Health, Khaled Abdel Ghaffar, discussed with the Deputy Minister for International Cooperation at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Qatar, Lulwa Al-Khater, support for the Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, in particular for the injured and injured. According to the Egyptian Ministry of Health, the two sides discussed in Cairo on Monday “the necessary needs to continue providing medical services to our Palestinian brothers, both within hospitals in the Palestinian territories and by supporting efforts to accommodate and treat cases in the Egyptian hospitals”. .”