Dr. Imran Qureshi: Travelogue

Dr. Imran Qureshi's Travelogue Day 3

Dr. Imran Qureshi, is an Interventional Radiologist from Naperville, IL.

Dr. Imran Qureshi: Travelogue

Dr. Imran Qureshi's Travelogue Day 1 & 2

Dr. Imran Qureshi, is an Interventional Radiologist from Naperville, IL.

A Tribute to Mohammed El-Ewady

When I agreed to help the American medical team in Gaza, I expected to be able to assist in many ways--transportation, communication, and other forms of logistical support. What I did not realize was how powerful and life-changing this experience would become. I write this today as I feel obligated to honor a special boy of whom I learned.

As an Arabic-speaker, my skills as a translator were in constant need. Almost by default, this allowed me get to know the patients and people particularly well, especially children we visited at an orphanage. Our medical team developed a special relationship with the Hope Institute for Orphans, who had requested our help. We made multiple visits and learned the children that resided there were lacking basic routine medical care. They needed everything from toothpaste to cardiac evaluations for irregular heartbeats.

Dr. Kanwal Chaudhry, a Pediatrician on our team identified physical manifestations of severe emotional distress in many of the boys. This exhibited itself as bed-wetting, uncontrolled bowel movements, and war-related nightmares. These symptoms were widespread, but not something easily appreciated. Hanging out--the kids generally preferred to clown around--run, yell, and make faces like most kids do.

After a couple of days, we began to develop a special trust and friendship with the boys as well as the staff. This led to the overwhelmed in-house counselor, El-Farra, to plead for our assistance in treating the boys' psychological trauma. Many had been orphaned as a result of the ongoing air strikes and conflict in Gaza. Our team lacked psychiatrists, but we were able to arrange for 2 clinical psychologists from Gift of the Givers, a South African NGO, to visit the afflicted kids. I returned with them, not only to help translate, but also to help the boys feel comfortable in the therapy sessions.

Mohammed El-Ewady, 17, was a shy polite orphan and the star pupil of the Institute who aspired to become a lawyer. He was loved by all and a role model to the younger kids. On the morning of December 27, 2008, Mohammed grabbed his pencil and ruler and headed out for his first final during exam week. After finishing the exam around 11:00 a.m., Mohammed left the school and began his walk back to the orphanage. Unfortunately for Mohammed, his path home took him past the local police station at the exact time air strikes had begun. Mohammed never made it home - he was struck in the head by a piece of shrapnel from an air strike. After spending seven hours searching for Mohammed, the head of the orphanage finally located him three blocks away, unconscious in the ICU of Al-Shifa Hospital. After spending 3 days in a coma, Mohammed passed away.

Mohammed's death was extremely traumatic for the orphans, many of whom were already victims of war--they had looked up to him as a beacon of strength and hope. Most also lost any feeling of the sense of security that they had regained after being relocated to the orphanage. The reality of the war set in for them--they felt that there was no safe place for them in Gaza.

Mohammed's death was particularly devastating for his younger brother Ahmed, 14. Ahmed took us to Mohammed's room, which had remained untouched since his death and showed us the only thing he had with him when he became a victim of war, his pencil and ruler. Although he was polite and excited to meet us, the counselor at the orphanage and his eyes told us that he was having a difficult time getting over the loss of his brother. Despite grief counseling, he suffers from nightmares.

I would like to pay a special tribute to Mohammed--as I remember looking at his exam schedule, still hanging on the side of his dresser in his quiet and empty room, showing the break between his tests on the 27th of December that still marks his ultimate fate.

Ahmed Kasem with Dr. Omar Qureshi. Kasem is a California-based attorney, who is providing logistical support to the IMANA team. Qureshi is a Radiologist in New York, assisting the team remotely from the United States.

Another Day in Gaza

Walking down the halls of Al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza City, the American team was flagged down by a man desperately requesting help for his wife. Rana Khalil had suffered shrapnel wounds to her left lower extremity, which tore off the flesh from her heel to the midfoot. She also broke a part of bone off from the heel. A patient in Al-Shifa for 27 days, Khalil had no treatment plan for her wounds other than bandage and dressing changes. Dr. Ismail Mehr surveyed her x-rays, and consulted with vascular surgeon Dr. Shariq Sayeed, as well as Dr. Irfan Galaria. Galaria, a Salt Lake City-based plastic surgeon believed he could use a skin graft to successfully heal the foot. The fact, however is that Al-Shifa does not have the ability to maintain the graft after the procedure and it would be unlikely to succeed. Additionally, there is no opportunity to perform a bone graft to repair her heel. Her likely fate is a below-the-knee amputation by Dr. Sayeed.


As Internventional Radiologists Dr. Labib Syed and Dr. Imran Qureshi made rounds at the Al-Shifa dialysis center, they ran across Nafiz. Nafiz complained of of fluid building up in the abdomen--a condition known as ascites. The cause for his ascites is unknown as the doctors at Al-Shifa lack the proper resources and technology to make the diagnosis. The two physicians decide that he will most likely need a catheter to drain the fluid in his belly, and possibly a shunt in his liver.

Dr. Rick Colwell and Dr. Kanwal Chaudhry returned to the Institute of Hope for the Orphans to perform about 150 well-child exams. Basic doctor visits, that many of these kids have never had. What they discovered was that most children suffered from eczema, a condition related to dry skin, and poor dental hygiene; while many also suffered from poor nutrition and vitamin deficiencies. The team plans to purchase and donate whatever supplies they can find locally in the form of toothpaste, multivitamins, lotion, and hydrocortizone cream. The doctors also diagnosed a hernia, 3 hearrt murmurs, and several children suffering from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. The IMANA team has arranged for the children with psychological disorders to be seen by 2 clinical psychologists who are a part of a large South African medical contingent, for further treatment.

Dr. Ismail Mehr seen in AP Video

The Epidemic of Poverty

On the eve of the 8th day of the Mission and as a stream of emails pour into my Inbox, of the various accounts and reactions, that our medical team in Gaza is experiencing - I begin to piece-by-piece understand the entirety of the Palestinian experience.

Amongst the stories of conflict -and while listening to and hearing about the inadequate medical resources and the shortage of basic needs - you begin to comprehend the level of poverty that Gazans are living under.

Not just any type of poverty - an overwhelming level - reports say that close to 80% of the community is under the poverty line. What that means is that there are a great number of individuals who are unable to provide food, shelter, clothes and other basic needs to there families.

But there seems to be a very unorthodox cause for this poverty. This is not a poverty due to a lack of economic prosperity because of mishandled credit loans by banks or ill doings by corporate CEOs. This is a byproduct of being segregated, isolated and deprived of resources.

Poverty makes international aid even more valuable as it is the only commodity in the region that can directly help in the rehabilitation. Aid arrives in warehouses in Gaza - seven to be exact and is categorized and disseminated to different medical centers and institutions across the region. IMANA visited two of the seven warehouses today and our team reports that the system is apparently working and aid is presumably being distributed.

Although we have reported that aid is trickling to the region - there is still an urgent need for additional supplies and goods for Gaza. Along with the injured and wounded, the epidemic of poverty inflicts all Gazans. We need to do all that we can to make sure we combat the ills of those that have fallen wounded, as well as win the fight against the poverty of circumstance.


Mansoor Khadir is assisting remotely from the United States, the American Medical Mission to Gaza.

Associated Press Photographs- January 27, 2009

AP Photo/Anja Niedringhaus:

Doctors from the U.S., who rushed to the Gaza Strip after the war, quickly learn that their challenge goes beyond treating shrapnel injuries. The Americans find themselves operating on patients who fell victim to a 20-month-border closure that crippled the health care system.

A joint team of American and Palestinian doctors operated on Palestinian boy Abdullah Shawwa, 4, in the Shifa hospital in Gaza City, Tuesday, Jan. 27, 2009. Abdullah suffers from a kidney tumor the size of a watermelon and would not have made it without the quick intervention from the American surgery team.

Photographs of Abdullah's surgery



Additional Associated Press Photographs from Al-Shifa Hospital, Gaza City, Gaza on Tuesday, January 27, 2009

AP: US doctors face challenges in crippled Gaza

(As published in the Washington Post, Chicago Tribune, and across the world)

Karen Laub of the Associated Press reports:

GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip – Doctors from the United States who rushed to the Gaza Strip to help the war wounded quickly learned that their challenge went beyond treating shrapnel injuries.

The eight American specialists found themselves operating on patients who had fallen victim to the 20-month-border closure that had crippled Gaza's health care system even before Israel's offensive against Hamas.

On Tuesday, the team removed a kidney tumor the size of a honey melon from a 4-year-old boy, Abdullah Shawwa, in a five-hour emergency surgery at Gaza City's Shifa Hospital.

The tumor was advanced and without quick intervention Abdullah would likely have died, said Dr. Ismail Mehr, an anesthesiologist from Hornell, N.Y. Doctors in Gaza didn't have the expertise to operate on him and Abdullah's father had been unable to get him transferred quickly to Israel or Egypt.

Even after the surgery, Abdullah's prognosis is uncertain. He'll need followup treatment, including advanced chemotherapy or radiation, which are not available in Gaza. But it's been difficult for Gaza patients to get out, ever since Israel and Egypt closed the borders in response to the violent Hamas takeover of the territory in June 2007.

The closure also dealt a further blow to Gaza's underdeveloped health care system, which lacks sophisticated equipment and key specialists. Hospitals often operate on generators because of disrupted power supplies, and spare parts for some machines are unavailable.

On the eve of the war, Gaza's hospitals had run out of 250 of the basic 1,000 health care items, and were short on 105 of 480 essential drugs, including some cancer medications and anesthetics, said Mahmoud Daher, a representative of the World Health Organization.

In this vulnerable condition, disaster struck. On Dec. 27, the first day of the war, Israeli warplanes bombed Hamas security compounds across Gaza, killing about 220 people, most of them Hamas police, and wounding some 300 people, according to Health Ministry officials.

Shifa, Gaza's central hospital, was overwhelmed.

Its six operating theaters couldn't cope with the waves of seriously wounded. Staff nurse Jihad Ashkar, a 22-year veteran at Shifa, said he had never before seen so many people with multiple injuries that required hours-long surgeries.

"The injured people waited for many hours to enter the theater, so we lost many injured people because we haven't the equipment or operating rooms," said Ashkar.

More than 1,280 Gazans were killed in the three-week offensive, according to the Palestinian Center for Human Rights. More than 4,000 people were hurt, including about 500 critically. The 600 most difficult cases were allowed passage to Egypt.

But the war has also changed the lives of those with lighter injuries. Policeman Sabri Elawa, 25, said he was the only one in his 60-member unit to survive the initial bombing raid. Hit by shrapnel in the right leg, he limps and moves with a walker.

On Monday, he stood in an unruly line at Shifa for several hours, waiting to pick up a proof-of-injury document. With paper in hand, he went to two charities in a failed search for the office that would pay the 500 euros promised to each wounded person by the Hamas government.

Two of his relatives, Maisa and Sami Elawa, accompanied him, seeking emergency payment for their 3-year-old son, Zaher, who suffered a broken hip and burns on the face and chest in a shelling attack near their home.

The couple has no income, except for handouts from relatives. They said they can't afford the medication for Zaher, who was lying on a sofa in the modest living room Monday, alternating between crying and smiling. "He cried for a whole week," Maisa, 22, said of her son.

She said she's not sure the relief money will ever materialize. "All of them have forgotten us. We are the victims and every government just looks for their" jobs, she said.

With many of the wounded either sent home or to hospitals abroad, Shifa has largely settled into its prewar routine.

Some of the exhausted Palestinian doctors have been given relief by foreign medical teams that have arrived in Gaza since a cease-fire took hold Jan. 18. Doctors Without Borders set up a white tent clinic on an empty lot in downtown Gaza City and Jordanian specialists are to stay for several months, operating a 44-bed field hospital.

The eight Americans, including a plastic surgeon and a radiologist, performed more than 15 procedures since arriving Sunday, including skin grafts and cancer surgery. The group, which also carried cartons of medical equipment, is to stay through Friday.

Dr. Saeed Akther, a Pakistan-based urologist originally from Lubbock, Texas, performed the surgery on Abdullah, the 4-year-old with the kidney tumor. Palestinian doctors crowded around to watch, one even bringing a portable step so he could peek over the heads of the others.

"The (local) surgeons could not have done it here," said Mehr. "I am not knocking their ability. You could tell when we were doing it, they had lots of questions. They just would not have been able to handle a tumor this size."

Abdullah's father, Mussalam, a butcher in Gaza City's outdoor market, said the boy was diagnosed only a month ago, after his belly kept swelling. He said his request for treatment outside Gaza was still hung up in bureaucracy when the foreign doctors arrived.

For followup treatment, Abdullah would have to go to Israel. Even during the 20-month closure, Israel has permitted several hundred patients a month — some 900 at its peak — to reach Israeli hospitals for treatment not available in Gaza.

Each trip across the heavily fortified Erez crossing into Israel requires a complicated series of permits from officials in Gaza, the West Bank and finally Israel's Shin Bet security service.

In recent months, the number of rejections on security grounds has increased, said Miri Weingarten, of the Physicians for Human Rights in Israel, which helps Gaza patients.

She said about 1,000 referrals a month are needed, but that in the period before the war, only about half that number were reaching Israel.

Israeli Foreign Ministry spokesman Aviv Shiron said Gaza's Hamas rulers are responsible for any hardship in Gaza but that Israel has gone out of its way to ensure ongoing medical care.

"Israel has answered every request made by the Red Cross, the U.N. and other humanitarian organizations, regarding health care in Gaza," he said, adding that "any claims that Israeli policy is harming the health care system in Gaza are false, completely untrue."

However, international aid groups say the pre-war trickle of aid shipments is not sufficient to deal with Gaza's growing humanitarian crisis. Rebuilding homes, factories and several health care centers is estimated to cost about $2 billion. Many of the wounded will need rehabiliation.

The American doctors were careful to stay away from politics — the lifting of the closure is linked to complex negotiations between Israel, Hamas, Egypt and others.

But Dr. Ahmed Colwell, an emergency room physician from Sioux City, Iowa, said at least the sick should be given relief.

"It's inhumane ... to not allow them to even have basic medical care," he said.

Orphanage and Pediatric Surgery Rounds

The doctors visited Ma'had Amal Lilaytam (Institute of Hope for the Orphans) today, with pictures in the slideshow above. In December of 2008, this was home to 130 kids. As a result of the current conflict, they must now make preparations for 1800 to 2000 orphans.

In the pediatric ward they met Hassan 9, and Omar 5, two brothers who sustained injuries after playing with an unexploded shell. Hassan received injuries to the face and chest; Omar to the head and hands.

They also met Iman, 9, who told the team how she sustained injuries resulting in internal bleeding after being hit by falling debris.

They met Amira al-Girim, 15. You can read about the her amazing story of survival. Amira has big plans to become an attorney when she grows up. Amira and countless other Palestinians require humanitarian assistance. Relief agencies, medical teams, and aid of all kind is needed. This is an urgent appeal to the world to help return a sense of normalcy to these kids and countless others, who are unamed.

NPR interviews Dr. Imran Qureshi in Gaza

Dr. Imran Qureshi is interviewed by Jerome McDonnell of Chicago Public Radio

ABC-affiliate WMAR profiles Dr. Labib Syed

1/27/09 Coverage

Geo News (Karachi, Pakistan) reports Pakistani-American medical collaboration in Gaza

Corning (NY) Leader also picks up profile on Dr. Ismail Mehr

Tune In, Turn On, Help Out blog draws attention to American doctors in Gaza

Photos

The Children of Gaza: Hope Admist Despair

Approximately 50% of the population of Gaza is under the age of 14. It is essentially a land of children. Kids are victims of both conflict, and a medical system ill-equipped to handle their complex and special needs. Kids are also witnesses to horrors such as Mohy, 9, who lost his father to bombing. Yet kids will be kids, and Mohy and others were thrilled when some of our team members met them in the streets. Like all other kids, Mohy was interested in talking about movies, America and cell phones. The kids thought that our members were famous actors or singers from a far away land. Resiliency in children is unmatched and they find a way to get by, even in the most darkest of hours.

And by no surprise, many of the American doctors have had pediatric patients. The kind of expertise that this team brings is rare for Gaza, so they are attempting to tackle the difficult cases that are commonly sent out the country--something that is quite rare given tight border restrictions. Dr. Imran Qureshi had a 5 year old patient with sarcoma of the liver, an exceedingly rare form of cancer. This child had surgical removal of his cancer 6 months ago in Israel, but it had since reappeared--and he became very jaundiced. Using out-of-date 30 year old radiology equipment, Dr. Qureshi was able to place a drain into the liver, which would relieve the troubling symptoms the child was experiencing. Dr. Ismail Mehr performed anesthesia for this case without any standard monitoring equipment seen in normal operating rooms. He only had the use of an oxygen saturation device, despite complete sedation. The child is well now...but they know this is not a cure. They've only bought time until the cancer can be removed again. There is however, hope.

Hope is what the parents of a 4 year old boy are doing right now. Urologist Dr. Saeed Akthar and Dr. Mehr will be teaming up tomorrow to remove a Wilm's tumor of the kidney, another very rare condition. Dr. Akhtar does not know if the cancer has spread, but this is the boy's chance as he has been unable to move out of the country for higher level care. The boy comes from a poor family, that was unwilling to take any monetary assistance. The father, who owns a kabob shop, was overjoyed that somebody was helping his son; and showered the doctors with fresh kabobs. This in a place, where food is scarce and eating a kabob is a luxury.

Dr. Rick Colwell also encountered pediatric patients as he helped relieve an ER staff that has not taken breaks, days on end. Plastic surgeon, Dr. Irfan Galaria is also putting his surgical expertise to good use. Earlier today, he treated a 5 year old boy who had 10% burns to his body, primarily in the chest. He used extensive skin grafting and formation of skin flaps to heal the area affected by the burns. Many of his patients are requiring reconstructive surgery from blast injuries. And many other children are getting burned by fires from wood, and oil. The kids are lighting these fires to stay warm, as there is a lack of electricity in many parts of Gaza. While in surgery and treating wounds, Dr. Galaria and others have to make sure every stitch counts--there is limited suture material and a lack of local anesthetic.

It is these stories of triumph in a war-torn land that provide hope. To kids like Mohy, whose eyes are awe-struck at a chance celebrity sighting, in midst of despair.

Gaza: At a Glance

Inhabited by 1.4 million Palestinians - Gaza is a coastal strip of land along the Mediterranean Sea. The name originates from its main city, Gaza.

Most of Gaza's 1.4 million residents are refugees or descendants of refugees of the Palestinians exodus.

Bordering Egypt on the south-west and Israel on the north and east - it is about 41 kilometers (25 mi) long, and between 6 and 12 kilometers (4–7.5 mi) wide, with a total area of 360 square kilometers (139 sq mi).

Oslo Accords signed between Israel and the Palestinian Liberation Organization allows Israel to maintain military control of the Gaza strip's airspace, land borders and territorial waters.

Source: Abridged from wikipedia.org

Random Musings From Gaza City

• Dozens of ambulances like the one above were hit. The ambulance depot was destroyed.
  
• Anesthesiologist, Dr. Ismail Mehr participated in a mandible resection. He worked with another volunteer surgeon from abroad.
  
• While touring a medical facility, Dr. Imran Qureshi was quickly able to make a diagnosis by CT Scan, in a suspected stroke patient. Fortunately, Dr. Qureshi was at hand as there was no other Radiologist in the hospital. There are only 2 CT scanners in all of Gaza--for a population of 1.5 million. In comparison, the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, MN has 23 scanners of its own.
  
• Vascular Surgeon, Dr. Shariq Sayeed is in high demand. He constructed fistulas for Dialysis patients. There are few, if any physicians able to perform this in Gaza. Alot of long-term and chronic care needs have been put on hold to deal with acute trauma cases. The American team's expertise is helping with this.
  
• The Palestinians have been extremely hospitable to the American-led contingent. Although the group is sponsored by IMANA, the team will treat all patients regardless of their race, ethnicity, or religion. Whether Arab or Israeli, the doctors view the patient as a person, and will heal and help in any way they can.

An Apparent Need

After being able to enter into Gaza through the Egyptian border and arriving at Al-Shifa Hosptial, the team of American doctors has provided more detailed news of the medical needs of the wounded.

We have been told through Gazan officials that of the estimated 6000 injured, approximately 13% will require an amputation.

The Israeli strikes have left a clear long term need for a team of multidisciplinary professionals, including Physical Rehabilitation, Specialization in Amputation, Physical Therapy, Occupational Therapist, Pain Management and Prosthesis Fitting.

This team would be required to be in place in about 2 months. Ideally, any group of medical professionals assembled would stay a duration of a few weeks--to treat the patients as well as provide medical training, to local physicians and therapists in order to continue the rehabilitation and therapy.

It has become apparent that along with requirement of a greater number of medical professionals to treat amputees - there is a need of additional prosthetics and medical resources.

Prior to the recent Israeli siege, medical staff in Gaza did not have a great need for providing care to amputees and so they are not properly equipped or trained to deal with the estimated 750-800 resulting amputees.

Mostafa, a physical therapist at El-Wafa Medical Rehab Hospital, mentioned that 90% of the current medical care needs in Gaza are surgical: Neurosurgery, Orthopedic Surgery, Reconstructive Surgery, Interventional Caridology and Eye Surgery.

With the current number of wounded at 6000, I am unable to comprehend how the limited surgical wards, 1900 government inpatient beds, and single Ophthalmology hospital will be able to handle the volume of injured.

I did not know what the team would expect upon arriving into Gaza - their presence and purpose there is to treat the wounded, and to assist local doctors. But the apparent and urgent needs of Gaza from the Israeli strikes have also made it a priority to disseminate information about the medical insufficiencies and to request further assistance for region. My heart has softened as I hear the news of those severely wounded by shrapnel, and by those people such as Mostafa, who work tirelessly with little resources."

I will continue to bring updates of our mission.

Mansoor Khadir is assisting remotely from the United States, the American Medical Mission to Gaza

American Doctors Enter Gaza on Second Attempt

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Rafah, Gaza (January 25, 2009)- A group of American doctors on a humanitarian mission to the Gaza Strip successfully entered the war-torn territory early Saturday morning. American physicians from across the United States traveled to Gaza armed with medical supplies to treat the 5300 Palestinian civilians, including 795 women and 1855 children, wounded by Israeli attacks. The team is en-route to Gaza City to where hospitals are in desperate need of assistance from medical professionals.

President Obama stressed the need for the Gaza-Eygpt border to allow the flow of humanitarian aid, “Gaza’s border crossings should be open to allow the flow of aid and commerce.” Meanwhile, Doctors for Human Rights, an Arab-Israeli medical team in Gaza, reported that many in Gaza's hospitals are in critical condition with untreated wounds and inadequate medical resources. The American team was unable enter Gaza yesterday due to logistical issues. The second attempt for entry early Saturday morning proved to be successful.

As the team begins work immediately, some of the doctors, like Baltimore radiologist Dr. Labib Syed, are brushing up on general medicine and preparing to operate outside of their normal specialties. Salt Lake City plastic surgeon Dr. Irfan Galaria will be one of the doctors whose specialty is in heavy demand. All, including Galaria, understand the mission’s unique difficulties. “It’s going to be a struggle, it’s going to be a challenge, but we’re certainly prepared and willing to make the sacrifices we need to [in order] to help people out.”

American-Egyptian freelance journalist Aya Batrawy is with the group in Gaza. Based in Cairo, Batrawy has filed stories for National Public Radio, BBC America, Voice of America and Pacifica radio. She has also worked closely with McClatchy Newspapers.

The team of American volunteers is led by Dr. Ismail Mehr, an anesthesiologist from Hornell, NY, and includes Dr. Rick Colwell, an emergency room doctor from Sioux City, Iowa, Dr. Kanwal Shazia Chaudhry, a pediatric emergency specialist from New York City, Dr. Shariq Sayeed, a vascular surgeon from Atlanta, Dr. Imran Qureshi, an interventional radiologist from Naperville, Illinois, 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.

1/24/09 Coverage

Aid groups frustrated at lack of Gaza access

Norman Finkelstein picks up story off of blog

Dr. Irfan Galaria amongst doctors headed to Gaza

Team leader Dr. Ismail Mehr's profile also appeared in the Morning Times (Sayre, PA), Evening Times (Little Falls, NY), Eagle News (Hawley, PA), and Wellsville Daily Reporter (Wellsville NY).

Palestinians in Gaza hosptials in danger of dying from their wounds

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.