Hornell doctor leading mission to Gaza Strip

Bob Clark of The Evening Tribune (Hornell, NY) reports:

Coming out of surgery at St. James Mercy Hospital Tuesday afternoon, Dr. Ismail Mehr began getting ready for a war zone.

Mehr is one of eight doctors who traveled to the Gaza Strip this week — an area battered by an Israeli army offensive in response to repeated Hamas rocket attacks — under a medical mission by the Islamic Medical Association of North America.

“Basically, I assumed the role of coordinating the first team that’s going over there,” he said. “This is probably the most difficult thing I’ve done.”

So far, just getting in to Gaza has been difficult, as both Israel and Egypt have significant restrictions on entry into the territory.

“Egypt won’t even let us in until we have a notarized, official letter,” he said, adding the U.S. State Department had to clear the trip first.

Once the team arrives in Egypt, it will be a 4- to 5-hour drive across the Sinai Peninsula to the border with Gaza, where the team will be picked up by Palestinian officials.

“Most likely, we’ll be in Gaza City,” he said, adding the doctors will be performing surgery at of the hospitals in the territory, some of which took fire in the battle.

While in Gaza, Mehr, an anesthesiologist, will likely do little of his main line of work.
“You have to be open to doing things outside of your normal specialty,” he said, adding he will call up his training from his surgical residency to get the job done.

This is not his first time in a disaster zone.

His first disaster work was in 2004, following the tsunami in the Indian Ocean that claimed upwards of a quarter of a million lives.

“I think every one of us ... said ‘I wish there’s something I can do,’” he said.

After he came back, he was determined to help out if needed in future events.

“I sort of made a promise to do something like this again,” he said. “You come back a changed person. It’s addictive, kind of.”

In 2005, he also worked in Pakistan following a major earthquake that claimed countless lives.
“I coordinated all the teams that went over,” he said, adding he knew Pakistan well and was able to help not only operate on victims, but help out the teams move and get up and running.

But this is his first time in a war zone.

While Israeli troops have been withdrawn from the territory, that does not mean war might not erupt again at any time, Mehr said.

If that happens, the State Department knows the team will be there, but “they very likely may not be able to come in and help us,” he said.

The team will leave Gaza Jan. 30, coming home the next day form Egypt.

Mehr said the team has started a Web site, www.ammgaza.com, which should allow them to update with photos, videos and text about their experience.

American Doctors to Arrive at Rafah Border Crossing

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Cairo, Egypt (January 23, 2009)- The first group of American doctors arrived in Cairo on Thursday, January 22, 2009 to begin a 10-day humanitarian mission to the Gaza Strip. “The US Embassy in Cairo was very accommodating,” said mission leader Dr. Ismail Mehr, an anesthesiologist from Hornell, NY. Dr. Mehr added that the Embassy had helped facilitate the necessary documentation to enter Gaza.

On Thursday night, the doctors dined with their Palestinian counterparts and a group of 25 doctors heading to Gaza from South Africa, before resting up for the journey ahead. They will head to Gaza today—to enter the territory through the Rafah Border Crossing. “It’s going to be a five or six hour journey [to Rafah],” Dr. Mehr reported via email. “Once we arrive, we will begin work immediately.”

As the team approaches Gaza, resolve remains strong. “Without access to electricity, food, and medical care, many of the injured are not getting proper care,” said Dr. Imran Qureshi, a radiologist from Naperville, IL. He added, "Some of these doctors [in Gaza] have been working 24/7, and we're going to relieve that a little bit." Dr. Rick Colwell an emergency room doctor from Sioux City, IA said, "There's a crisis there and they need help. I'm trained to give that kind of help."

The team of volunteers also includes Dr. Irfan Galaria, a plastic surgeon from Salt Lake City, Dr. Kanwal Shazia Chaudhry, a pediatric emergency specialist from New York City, Dr. Shariq Sayeed, a vascular surgeon from Atlanta, Dr. Labib Syed, an interventional radiologist from Baltimore, and Dr. Labiq Syed, a research fellow at Johns Hopkins. Ahmed Kasem, an attorney with the California firm, Kasem, Ko & Ahmed, has volunteered to assist with logistics.

Updated 1/22/09 Coverage

UPDATED 9:48 PM EST

[NEW] Huffington Post acknowledges American doctors headed to Gaza

[NEW] Naperville Sun (IL) reports on Dr. Imran Qureshi, local radiologist headed to Gaza

Humanitarian aid waiting for entry into Gaza at Egyptian border

Naperville (IL) press acknowledges US physicians trip to the Middle East

Dr. Irfan Galaria's efforts recognized by alma mater

Aurora physician to aid Gaza's wounded

Erika Wurst of The Beacon News (Aurora, IL) reports:

Aurora, IL (January 21, 2009)- Now five months pregnant with their first child, the last thing Naperville civil rights attorney Maaria Mozaffar expected -- or wanted -- to see was her physician husband thrown into the middle of the carnage in the Gaza Strip.

This morning, however, that's exactly where interventional radiologist Dr. Imran Qureshi, who practices at Rush-Copley Medical Center in Aurora, is headed. With suitcases filled with medical supplies, Qureshi boarded a plane to the Middle East with crossed fingers and a mission of hope.

According to Palestinian medical officials, more than 1,300 people have been killed in Gaza since Israel began a three-week offensive against Hamas. About 21,000 buildings, including at least 4,000 homes, have been destroyed. The Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics estimates economic and infrastructure loss at $2 billion.

"When you see the situation over there, the guilt of not helping far supersedes the fear of actually going," Qureshi said Tuesday as he finished up last-minute business at work, sounding anything but nervous.

"I had to weigh the benefits of how I could help someone else versus the risk to myself."

The scale tipped the same way of for some of Qureshi's physician friends. About 10 doctors from across the country, specializing in areas from neurology to surgical procedures, will travel under the banner of the Islamic Medical Assistance of North America, to provide medical relief within the Gaza Strip for 10 days.

Instead of having her eyes glued to the news while her husband of five years is abroad, Mozaffar said she will go on with life as usual.

"I'm just going to go to work and keep busy," she said. "What can you do? Nothing. You can't do anything else.

"He's very committed, and you just can't argue with someone who is doing something good," she said. " ... I'm in a comfy home with food and water, and over there they don't have basic medical care."

With no running water or electricity in Gaza, Qureshi said this job will be more difficult than most. He will have to rely on his intern training instead of his medical specialty to help out anywhere he can.

"There's a lot going on there, and there are so few physicians," he said. "Some of these doctors have been working 24/7, and we're going to relieve that a little bit."

Back in Naperville, however, Qureshi's pregnant wife will be seeking relief of her own, hoping a cease-fire will continue and that her husband will be home safe and sound.

"I told his parents that I'm very proud to be able to have this baby, because you don't know what could happen (when Qureshi is away)," she said. "You pray that he's safe, but you're proud he's doing the right thing, and I'll always be able to share that with our daughter."

Sioux City Doctor Heads to Gaza to Help

CBS-Affiliate KMEG 14's Steve Long (Sioux City, IA) Reports:



A Sioux City doctor is getting ready to fly halfway around the world, to help injured Palestinians in the Gaza Strip. Reporter Steve Long met the doctor and explains why he is reaching out to those suffering so far away from our hometowns.

He leaves Sioux City on Wednesday morning before sunrise with stops in Minneapolis and New York before arriving in Cairo, Egypt on Thursday. The big question: Why is a doctor from Sioux City going all the way to Gaza?

There is a fragile ceasefire now in place between Israel and Hamas militants in Gaza, but in the process of the fighting, over a thousand Palestinians died and several thousand more were injured.

"There's a crisis there and they need help. I'm trained to give that kind of help," Dr. Rick Colwell says.

Dr. Rick Colwell is an emergency room physician at St. Luke's and one of nine U.S. doctors and four from Canada leaving on a 10-day mission to Gaza, providing relief to doctors there overwhelmed with recent need.

"This is through the Islamic Medical Association of North America and I have actually done relief work with them before. In 2005, the earthquake in Pakistan, through this organization I went over there and worked in the Himalayan Mountains," says Dr. Colwell.

His wife Eena is originally from Pakistan. They met about a decade ago in Des Moines and Dr. Colwell is himself now a Muslim. Their seven-month-old daughter's name is Emaan, which he says means faith. And faith plays into Dr. Colwell's trip to Gaza.

"You try to do things that you think God would want you to do. It's to please God first and second would be to help the people that are there, that need so much help," says Dr. Colwell.

Help that is now on the way.

They don't know exactly what to expect when they get there, they may not even be let into Gaza. But if they're not, they have arrangements to help wounded Palestinians from Gaza at a hospital in Egypt.

This story also appeared on KPTH Fox 44 (Sioux City, IA).

A Brief Conversation with Illinois Radiologist Dr. Imran Qureshi

AMMG: Why are you heading to Gaza?
IQ: The Gazan civilians are incurring tremendous difficulties. Without access to electricity, food, and medical care, many of the injured are not getting proper care. It is my hope--along with the rest of the IMANA medical relief team--to help the situation in any small way that we can. We feel that we can use our training to provide some relief (albeit small) to the existing medical infrastructure. Our secondary goal is to draw attention to the medical situation in Gaza and inspire subsequent teams to follow suit and volunteer their services.

AMMG: Even with the cease fire, Israeli troops remain in Gaza and the possibility that hostilities resume looms. How are you handling the risks associated with going into a war zone?

IQ: As a team, we are informing the State Department and the Egyptian Ministry of Health about our services. We do understand that this does not guarantee our safety and we will have to use common sense to stay out of danger. Nevertheless, the team understands that there is an inherent risk to entering Gazan territories despite the ceasefire.

AMMG: How can other Americans support you in your mission to aid suffering civilians in Gaza?

IQ: The team would first like to encourage other volunteers to follow suit. Nurses, paramedics, and physicians are all in need. Secondly, medical supplies are of the utmost importance. Without the appropriate supplies and medicines, care will be limited at best. Thirdly, basic needs such as food, clean water, and electricity are in need. Of these, we would like to see food and water available to not only patients, but all citizens.

Dr. Imran Qureshi is an interventional radiologist from Naperville, Illinois and serves as Medical Director of Interventional Radiology at Rush Copley Hospital in Aurora, Illinois. He received his medical degree from the University of Rochester School of Medicine and Dentistry in 1999.

1/19/09 Coverage

UN says Gaza hospitals are in crisis

Sioux City doctor, Dr. Rick Colwell, headed to Gaza

Salt Lake City's Dr. Irfan Galaria is profiled on CBS-affiliate KUTV before departing for Gaza

American Doctors Prepare to Depart for Gaza

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Lombard, IL (January 19, 2009)- Nine American and four Canadian doctors are preparing to depart on a 10-day mission to bring desperately needed medical assistance to Palestinians living in Gaza. The group is sponsored by the Islamic Medical Association of North America (IMANA) in conjunction with the Federation of Islamic Medical Associations.

“With the number of injured reported, the need for medical assistance is paramount,” said Dr. Ismail Mehr, an anesthesiologist from Hornell, NY who is leading the mission to Gaza. “Any community would be challenged handling that kind of volume, and Gaza is one of the world’s poorest. We are eager to assist in anyway we can.”

Officials at World Health Organization report over 5,200 Palestinians have been wounded by Israeli strikes – including 1552 children, 652 women, and 22 healthcare personnel. With recent attacks on three major hospitals in Gaza and with remaining medical facilities understaffed and inadequately equipped, attention is being drawn to the overwhelming humanitarian need.

“Bombs are being dropped on hospitals while doctors are treating the wounded. That’s a very challenging environment to practice medicine,” said Dr. Imran Qureshi, an interventional radiologist from Chicago. “Our mission is to provide any assistance we can to help innocent civilians receive medical care.”

"The medical needs in Gaza are overwhelming, and the current medical infrastructure cannot keep up with the current demands. Recent strikes at three of the largest hospitals underscore the urgency of these needs," said Dr. Shariq Sayeed, a vascular surgeon from Atlanta and veteran of medical relief work in Pakistan following the 2006 earthquake. "We hope to lend our skills and services to aid the suffering civilian population, and to show that Americans do care, and always will care for innocent victims."

The multidisciplinary team of volunteers also includes Dr. Irfan Galaria, a plastic surgeon from Salt Lake City, Dr. Kanwal Shazia Chaudhry, a pediatric emergency specialist from New York City, and Dr. Rick Colwell, an emergency room doctor from Iowa. Ahmed Kasem, an attorney with the California firm, Kasem, Ko & Ahmed, has volunteered to assist with logistics. The team will bring medical supplies purchased by IMANA in Egypt into Gaza with them. Nine doctors are scheduled to arrive in Gaza on Thursday, January 22nd, with the rest arriving on January 26th.