Friday, February 6, 2009
Thursday, February 5, 2009
CW Affiliate WENY-TV interviews Dr. Ismail Mehr
Ted Fioraliso of WENY-TV reports:
A Southern Tier doctor is back from a medical mission to Gaza. “Going there really enlightened me and opened my eyes,” said Dr. Ismail Mehr.
Mehr is happy to be home at St. James Hospital in Hornell after a weeklong trip to Gaza with other American doctors.
“It’s sort of addictive work. After you've done it once, I think anyone who goes and has any human sense to them --it affects you in a different way,” said Mehr.
Dr. Mehr, an anesthesiologist, performed a handful of surgeries each day at Gaza City's Shiffah Hospital.
Some of his patients had war-related injuries, but others were suffering from substandard medical treatment. Since Israel imposed an embargo on Gaza, nothing comes in and nothing goes out -- including medicine and equipment.
“Everyone is focusing on the 1,300 people who were killed in these strikes and the 6,000 or so wounded. But, there's a number that's unspoken for that is going to continue if this embargo stays in effect,” said Mehr.
Mehr and the others spent their down time at a local orphanage. He says being with the kids was rewarding, but what they told him was horrifying.
“That was something really overwhelming. They told stories of their parents in the rubble, or their house blown away,” he said.
Mehr says he really didn't know much about the conflict before his trip, and says you have to see it yourself to see what it's done to the people of Gaza.
“Despite them losing everything, and basically not having anything left to live for anymore, they went out of their way to host us. And we made some very strong bonds, and we all felt we left some family members behind,” said Mehr.
Wednesday, February 4, 2009
Mercy in a War Zone
Justin Head of the Hornell Evening Tribune reports:
Hornell, N.Y. - It’s a trip he will never forget.
When St. James Mercy Hospital’s Dr. Ismail Mehr headed out to Gaza for the third humanitarian relief effort of his life, he thought he knew how bad conditions were going to be in the war ravaged region. But he soon found out nothing could have prepared him for the conditions he would experience.
“The first thing that we saw was the destruction and the tank tracks through fields, houses blown up ... One vivid thing that I caught was a children’s playground that had been torn a part because the tanks had driven through it. There was a zoo in Gaza and the animals had been killed. We got a sense of war. I’ve never been to battle grounds and I got to see what it looked like,” said Mehr.
Mehr, an anesthesiologist at St. James, was the leader of a 10-day medical mission receiving national recognition. The trip was sponsored by the Islamic Medical Association of North America and has had stories about it done in the Washington Post and the Chicago Tribune.
“We were the only Americans to go to Gaza and we will probably be the only ones to go as far as a relief team that is strictly under the charter of an American charitable organization. The other Americans there were journalists or people who worked for the United Nations,” said Mehr. He crossed the border with 36 South Africans.
“I think that is a shame that we pride ourselves in the United States on wanting to help others and in the end we were the only ones that went, from the Islamic Medical Association,” said Mehr.
The trip almost became impossible as Mehr and his team were hassled at the Egyptian border where they crossed as they ventured to the El Shifa Hospital in Gaza city.
Gaza has a large, military-patrolled wall erected around the entire densely populated urban city. No one is allowed to travel in or out. Israel and the Hamas government have battled each other for years, causing sporadic and sometimes long periods of devastating violence.
On the first day of his trip Mehr had to go to the U.S. Embassy in Cairo to sign a waiver to be allowed to cross into Gaza because the borders to Gaza are completely sealed from anyone going in or anyone coming out. Representatives at the embassy told the team that they would be offered no help if any fighting broke out. Mehr stayed in a hotel that was running on generators and frequently heard bombings.
“The guts and the trauma and the severed limbs and you know the gory stuff everyone from the media and people when I return to the states always want to know ‘What did you see? Was it bad?,’ had sort of passed. Either people had already died or been treated by local doctors. We missed that by a couple of days. But what we did see was a lot of wounds, infections, amputations, or people that needed to be amputated, shrapnel wounds and what not,” said Mehr.
He said the media is biased and fails to report how the area has been crippled by an embargo that is slowly killing the people there.
“We saw war crimes there, we saw kids burnt with white phosphorous, on the same side we haven’t seen the suicide bombings and what happens over in Israel because we haven’t been over there, but I think both sides are wrong,” said Mehr.
During his trip he took photos of horrific scenes, dead children covered with rubble, animals that had been executed, gaping wounds from shrapnel that civilians were hit with, bombed buildings and other images that paint a horrific picture of the conditions there.
“Most of my procedures were cancer-related surgerys and most of them were on children ... The local doctors had these patients with cancer and they didn’t know how to treat it because they didn’t have chemotherapy. Their tumors had grown so large they just didn’t have the skills or instruments to use them.” said Mehr.
He talked about this as he discussed the case of a 5-year-old child that had a kidney tumor about the size of a watermelon that he had been living with for several months. Doctors in Gaza have no way to obtain new medical materials or fix broken equipment in the hospitals so they use dated instruments or are unable to treated certain ailments entirely.
“They have to improvise and make due. There are only two CT scanners for a population for 1.5 million. If you look at Rochester they service a population of about a million and they have probably about 50 scanners running all the time ... People need to realize there is a humanitarian side to it and the people that are hurting are the civilians and the public. It’s not the politicians and we need to stress that with our politicians and the effects of the embargo,” said Mehr.
Mehr plans on going back to Gaza in the future if it is possible.
Hornell, N.Y. - It’s a trip he will never forget.
When St. James Mercy Hospital’s Dr. Ismail Mehr headed out to Gaza for the third humanitarian relief effort of his life, he thought he knew how bad conditions were going to be in the war ravaged region. But he soon found out nothing could have prepared him for the conditions he would experience.
“The first thing that we saw was the destruction and the tank tracks through fields, houses blown up ... One vivid thing that I caught was a children’s playground that had been torn a part because the tanks had driven through it. There was a zoo in Gaza and the animals had been killed. We got a sense of war. I’ve never been to battle grounds and I got to see what it looked like,” said Mehr.
Mehr, an anesthesiologist at St. James, was the leader of a 10-day medical mission receiving national recognition. The trip was sponsored by the Islamic Medical Association of North America and has had stories about it done in the Washington Post and the Chicago Tribune.
“We were the only Americans to go to Gaza and we will probably be the only ones to go as far as a relief team that is strictly under the charter of an American charitable organization. The other Americans there were journalists or people who worked for the United Nations,” said Mehr. He crossed the border with 36 South Africans.
“I think that is a shame that we pride ourselves in the United States on wanting to help others and in the end we were the only ones that went, from the Islamic Medical Association,” said Mehr.
The trip almost became impossible as Mehr and his team were hassled at the Egyptian border where they crossed as they ventured to the El Shifa Hospital in Gaza city.
Gaza has a large, military-patrolled wall erected around the entire densely populated urban city. No one is allowed to travel in or out. Israel and the Hamas government have battled each other for years, causing sporadic and sometimes long periods of devastating violence.
On the first day of his trip Mehr had to go to the U.S. Embassy in Cairo to sign a waiver to be allowed to cross into Gaza because the borders to Gaza are completely sealed from anyone going in or anyone coming out. Representatives at the embassy told the team that they would be offered no help if any fighting broke out. Mehr stayed in a hotel that was running on generators and frequently heard bombings.
“The guts and the trauma and the severed limbs and you know the gory stuff everyone from the media and people when I return to the states always want to know ‘What did you see? Was it bad?,’ had sort of passed. Either people had already died or been treated by local doctors. We missed that by a couple of days. But what we did see was a lot of wounds, infections, amputations, or people that needed to be amputated, shrapnel wounds and what not,” said Mehr.
He said the media is biased and fails to report how the area has been crippled by an embargo that is slowly killing the people there.
“We saw war crimes there, we saw kids burnt with white phosphorous, on the same side we haven’t seen the suicide bombings and what happens over in Israel because we haven’t been over there, but I think both sides are wrong,” said Mehr.
During his trip he took photos of horrific scenes, dead children covered with rubble, animals that had been executed, gaping wounds from shrapnel that civilians were hit with, bombed buildings and other images that paint a horrific picture of the conditions there.
“Most of my procedures were cancer-related surgerys and most of them were on children ... The local doctors had these patients with cancer and they didn’t know how to treat it because they didn’t have chemotherapy. Their tumors had grown so large they just didn’t have the skills or instruments to use them.” said Mehr.
He talked about this as he discussed the case of a 5-year-old child that had a kidney tumor about the size of a watermelon that he had been living with for several months. Doctors in Gaza have no way to obtain new medical materials or fix broken equipment in the hospitals so they use dated instruments or are unable to treated certain ailments entirely.
“They have to improvise and make due. There are only two CT scanners for a population for 1.5 million. If you look at Rochester they service a population of about a million and they have probably about 50 scanners running all the time ... People need to realize there is a humanitarian side to it and the people that are hurting are the civilians and the public. It’s not the politicians and we need to stress that with our politicians and the effects of the embargo,” said Mehr.
Mehr plans on going back to Gaza in the future if it is possible.
Trip to Gaza Heartbreaking for Utah Doctor
Matthew D. LaPlante of The Salt Lake Tribune reports:
Humanitarian mission » Irfan Galaria traveled with 13 other doctors to treat wounded in recent conflict
The mother wrapped her arms around her 1-year-old daughter's body. The nurse held the child's head. And the doctor worked, stitch by stitch, to repair a laceration that stretched from the little girl's cheek to her lip.
There was no anesthetic to ease the child's pain.
"So this little girl, you know, she could feel it," said Irfan Galaria, a Salt Lake City plastic surgeon who returned Sunday from a 10-day humanitarian mission to Gaza. "Every time I stuck her with the needle she could feel it."
Galaria was among 14 doctors from the Islamic Medical Association of North America who traveled to Gaza in the wake of an Israeli military assault there that left more than 1,000 dead and several thousand more wounded, according to both Israeli and Palestinian casualty estimates. Although the two sides dispute the number of casualties that were civilians, Galaria said it was clear from his perspective at Gaza City's al-Shifa Hospital that noncombatants -- including children -- suffered greatly in the fighting.
And among the wounded he treated were many suffering from what appeared to be white phosphorus burns. U.S. manufacturers, among others, produce phosphorus shells for use in lighting up nighttime battlefields and creating smoke screens, but international law bans the use of the hot-burning shells in densely populated areas like Gaza.
It is Gaza's density -- the small stretch of land is similar in size and population to Philadelphia
-- that makes it a difficult place to conduct military operations without a large degree of collateral damage. "I was surprised and shocked to see the extent and the degree of civilian casualties," Galaria said.
Making matters far worse, he said, was the utter lack of medical supplies, everything from towels for surgeons to dry their hands after scrubbing to anesthetics for use in minor surgeries like the one Galaria performed on the young Gazan girl.
Galaria said the recent fighting aggravated a situation that was already dire. "They lack medical supplies, food, clothing -- anything that you can imagine," he said.
California lawyer Ahmed Kasem, who helped arrange transportation, lodging and served as a translator for the doctors, said he fears that the world has been given an incomplete picture about the situation in Gaza.
"It's heartbreaking," he said, "because from my personal vantage point, these people have no future. There are no jobs. There is nothing coming in or out. They've been locked up, isolated and forgotten."
Many of the doctors on the trip have agreed to look into further opportunities to return to Gaza to continue to care for those in need.
Iowa surgeon Rick Colwell said he is sadly certain that there will be plenty to do when the doctors return. "There was so much to do, you could stay there for years and never finish," Colwell told Sioux City's KPTH-TV, "but you do what you can."
Humanitarian mission » Irfan Galaria traveled with 13 other doctors to treat wounded in recent conflict
The mother wrapped her arms around her 1-year-old daughter's body. The nurse held the child's head. And the doctor worked, stitch by stitch, to repair a laceration that stretched from the little girl's cheek to her lip.
There was no anesthetic to ease the child's pain.
"So this little girl, you know, she could feel it," said Irfan Galaria, a Salt Lake City plastic surgeon who returned Sunday from a 10-day humanitarian mission to Gaza. "Every time I stuck her with the needle she could feel it."
Galaria was among 14 doctors from the Islamic Medical Association of North America who traveled to Gaza in the wake of an Israeli military assault there that left more than 1,000 dead and several thousand more wounded, according to both Israeli and Palestinian casualty estimates. Although the two sides dispute the number of casualties that were civilians, Galaria said it was clear from his perspective at Gaza City's al-Shifa Hospital that noncombatants -- including children -- suffered greatly in the fighting.
And among the wounded he treated were many suffering from what appeared to be white phosphorus burns. U.S. manufacturers, among others, produce phosphorus shells for use in lighting up nighttime battlefields and creating smoke screens, but international law bans the use of the hot-burning shells in densely populated areas like Gaza.
It is Gaza's density -- the small stretch of land is similar in size and population to Philadelphia
-- that makes it a difficult place to conduct military operations without a large degree of collateral damage. "I was surprised and shocked to see the extent and the degree of civilian casualties," Galaria said.
Making matters far worse, he said, was the utter lack of medical supplies, everything from towels for surgeons to dry their hands after scrubbing to anesthetics for use in minor surgeries like the one Galaria performed on the young Gazan girl.
Galaria said the recent fighting aggravated a situation that was already dire. "They lack medical supplies, food, clothing -- anything that you can imagine," he said.
California lawyer Ahmed Kasem, who helped arrange transportation, lodging and served as a translator for the doctors, said he fears that the world has been given an incomplete picture about the situation in Gaza.
"It's heartbreaking," he said, "because from my personal vantage point, these people have no future. There are no jobs. There is nothing coming in or out. They've been locked up, isolated and forgotten."
Many of the doctors on the trip have agreed to look into further opportunities to return to Gaza to continue to care for those in need.
Iowa surgeon Rick Colwell said he is sadly certain that there will be plenty to do when the doctors return. "There was so much to do, you could stay there for years and never finish," Colwell told Sioux City's KPTH-TV, "but you do what you can."
Tuesday, February 3, 2009
A Thank You From the Orphanage
31 January 2009
Dear Ahmed:
It was a pleasure having you at Al-Amal Institute for Orphans in Gaza. Your sincere concern about our kids was really appreciated by all of us. We wish you all a safe trip back and God willing you will be rewarded for your efforts.
It is true we have been through a very tough period during the war on Gaza. We have lost many beloved ones. In the Institute, we have lost one of our most beloved children (Mohammed Al Ewadi), who was killed by the very first bombing of the police station nearby his school. I just read the article in your blog about Mohammed Al-Ewadi.
On the other hand this tragedy has united all the good people around the world. Justice must prevail at the end.
Dear Ahmed, please convey our best regards to all the members in your group.
Yours truly,
Al-Amal instit
ution for Orphans
Surgeon Returns from Helping Patients in Gaza
NBC Affiliate KSL-5's Nicole Gonzales Roports
A Utah plastic surgeon just came back home today after spending a week in Gaza. He was part of an American team sent to help war wound victims.
The sound of war is something you don't hear every day here in Utah, but Dr. Irfan Galaria wanted to leave his practice at University Hospital to help the wounded in Gaza.
"Going there, I was aware of the risks. The opportunity to help these people outweighed any of these concerns," he said.
He was one of 14 physicians from the United States. He represented Utah. The group spent five days in Gaza working at the main trauma hospital.
Galaria said, "I would say almost all the people I worked on were children, except for one patient."
By the time their team arrived, most acute injuries had been cared for, so their job was to reconstruct wounds that were cared for incorrectly.
"The second day I was there I was called to the emergency room to repair a laceration, a cut on a 1-year-old child, pretty extensive across the lip and cheek," he said.
Galaria says in Gaza they had few resources and staff, and supplies were limited. "There was no sedation, there was no local anesthesia, and the nurse was used to hold the child down. So usually one parent and one nurse were holding the child down," he said.
The Utah surgeon says he saw so many disturbing injuries resulting from bombs, shrapnel and a chemical called white phosphorous. It burns victims, leaving them with second- and third-degree burns.
"That was difficult to deal with and try to understand why a 5-year-old child, why half her body is burned or why we're repairing cuts on little kids' faces without anesthesia," Galaria said.
He says he'd do it again, though, especially since the Palestinians were so grateful, kind and generous to him at a time when their lives were falling apart.
Galaria says he is actively trying to plan another trip in the coming months. He wants to take supplies, new equipment and other doctors to help teach the staff in Gaza
A Utah plastic surgeon just came back home today after spending a week in Gaza. He was part of an American team sent to help war wound victims.
The sound of war is something you don't hear every day here in Utah, but Dr. Irfan Galaria wanted to leave his practice at University Hospital to help the wounded in Gaza.
"Going there, I was aware of the risks. The opportunity to help these people outweighed any of these concerns," he said.
He was one of 14 physicians from the United States. He represented Utah. The group spent five days in Gaza working at the main trauma hospital.
Galaria said, "I would say almost all the people I worked on were children, except for one patient."
By the time their team arrived, most acute injuries had been cared for, so their job was to reconstruct wounds that were cared for incorrectly.
"The second day I was there I was called to the emergency room to repair a laceration, a cut on a 1-year-old child, pretty extensive across the lip and cheek," he said.
Galaria says in Gaza they had few resources and staff, and supplies were limited. "There was no sedation, there was no local anesthesia, and the nurse was used to hold the child down. So usually one parent and one nurse were holding the child down," he said.
The Utah surgeon says he saw so many disturbing injuries resulting from bombs, shrapnel and a chemical called white phosphorous. It burns victims, leaving them with second- and third-degree burns.
"That was difficult to deal with and try to understand why a 5-year-old child, why half her body is burned or why we're repairing cuts on little kids' faces without anesthesia," Galaria said.
He says he'd do it again, though, especially since the Palestinians were so grateful, kind and generous to him at a time when their lives were falling apart.
Galaria says he is actively trying to plan another trip in the coming months. He wants to take supplies, new equipment and other doctors to help teach the staff in Gaza
Monday, February 2, 2009
Dr. Imran Qureshi: Travelogue
Dr. Imran Qureshi's Travelogue Day 8
Dr. Imran Qureshi, is an Interventional Radiologist from Naperville, IL.
Dr. Imran Qureshi, is an Interventional Radiologist from Naperville, IL.
Sioux City Doctor Returns From Medical Mission
Fox-Affiliate KPTH 44's Samantha Suttle reports
A few weeks ago we told you about a Sioux City doctor traveling to the Gaza Strip to provide medical relief to the Palestinians wounded in the recent fighting. On Sunday, Dr. Rick Colwell returned home from his 10 day trip. Reporter Samantha Suttle sat down with him to find out how he helped those in need.
It was a dangerous mission for Dr. Colwell to take on, entering a war zone that had left thousands dead or wounded. But he says the trip was necessary, to help others who were suffering.
Sioux City Doctor Rick Colwell is back home, after spending 10 life-changing days in the Gaza Strip, performing surgeries on injured Palestinians in overcrowded hospitals.
"They just don't have the capability to handle the kind of influx they have, even before the war. They really are an overstressed system that's really on the verge of collapse," says Dr. Rick Colwell.
He spent other days at an orphanage, where he performed check-ups on hundreds of children.
"That was one of the really rewarding things. Those kids were really excited and amazingly, they still had plenty to smile about," says Dr. Colwell.
A humbling experience that ended too soon.
"There was so much to do, you could stay there for years and never finish. But you do what you can," Dr. Colwell says.
Assisting anyway he could, to relieve so much suffering.
"I just feel like that's what you are supposed to do, that's what God would want you to do, no matter what your religion, He wants us to help those that need it the most," says Dr. Colwell.
Treating victims of war who need it the most, but are crippled by a poor healthcare system.
Dr. Colwell didn't make the trip alone -- he went with a team of doctors from the Islamic Medical Association of North America. They blogged about their experiences in Gaza, which you can read at http://www.ammgaza.blogspot.com/.
A few weeks ago we told you about a Sioux City doctor traveling to the Gaza Strip to provide medical relief to the Palestinians wounded in the recent fighting. On Sunday, Dr. Rick Colwell returned home from his 10 day trip. Reporter Samantha Suttle sat down with him to find out how he helped those in need.
It was a dangerous mission for Dr. Colwell to take on, entering a war zone that had left thousands dead or wounded. But he says the trip was necessary, to help others who were suffering.
Sioux City Doctor Rick Colwell is back home, after spending 10 life-changing days in the Gaza Strip, performing surgeries on injured Palestinians in overcrowded hospitals.
"They just don't have the capability to handle the kind of influx they have, even before the war. They really are an overstressed system that's really on the verge of collapse," says Dr. Rick Colwell.
He spent other days at an orphanage, where he performed check-ups on hundreds of children.
"That was one of the really rewarding things. Those kids were really excited and amazingly, they still had plenty to smile about," says Dr. Colwell.
A humbling experience that ended too soon.
"There was so much to do, you could stay there for years and never finish. But you do what you can," Dr. Colwell says.
Assisting anyway he could, to relieve so much suffering.
"I just feel like that's what you are supposed to do, that's what God would want you to do, no matter what your religion, He wants us to help those that need it the most," says Dr. Colwell.
Treating victims of war who need it the most, but are crippled by a poor healthcare system.
Dr. Colwell didn't make the trip alone -- he went with a team of doctors from the Islamic Medical Association of North America. They blogged about their experiences in Gaza, which you can read at http://www.ammgaza.blogspot.com/.
Sunday, February 1, 2009
Dr. Imran Qureshi: Travelogue
Dr. Imran Qureshi's Travelogue Day 6 & 7
Dr. Imran Qureshi, is an Interventional Radiologist from Naperville, IL.
Dr. Imran Qureshi, is an Interventional Radiologist from Naperville, IL.
Dr. Imran Qureshi: Travelogue
Dr. Imran Qureshi's Travelogue Day 4 & 5
Dr. Imran Qureshi, is an Interventional Radiologist from Naperville, IL.
Dr. Imran Qureshi, is an Interventional Radiologist from Naperville, IL.
Friday, January 30, 2009
Dr. Imran Qureshi: Travelogue
Dr. Imran Qureshi's Travelogue Day 3
Dr. Imran Qureshi, is an Interventional Radiologist from Naperville, IL.
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.
Dr. Imran Qureshi, is an Interventional Radiologist from Naperville, IL.
Thursday, January 29, 2009
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; whi
le 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.
Wednesday, January 28, 2009
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.
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
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
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