Sunni Khalid of the WYPR Reports
Friday, February 13, 2009
Thursday, February 12, 2009
Gaza and the Aftermath Part 2
Kevin Doran of WLEA 1480 AM interviews Dr. Ismail Mehr
** Please note the views of the host do not represent those of AMMGClick here to listen to Gaza and the Aftermath Part 1
Gaza Event in Villa Park IL
Gaza: An Eyewitness Account
Featuring Dr. Imran Qureshi of IMANA/American Medical Mission to Gaza
Host: Islamic Foundation, Villa Park
Date: Sunday, February 22, 2009
Time: 1:30pm - 3:00pm
Location: Islamic Foundation
300 W. Highridge Road
Villa Park, IL
Phone: 6302042790
Email: nad0k@aol.com
The American Medical Mission to Gaza was the only group of American doctors to enter Gaza after the recent fighting to provide medical assistance and to witness the humanitarian crisis first-hand.
Dr. Imran Qureshi will be on hand to speak about his experiences in Gaza. Dr. Qureshi is a Radiologist at Rush Copely Medical Center in Aurora IL.
Featuring Dr. Imran Qureshi of IMANA/American Medical Mission to Gaza
Host: Islamic Foundation, Villa Park
Date: Sunday, February 22, 2009
Time: 1:30pm - 3:00pm
Location: Islamic Foundation
300 W. Highridge Road
Villa Park, IL
Phone: 6302042790
Email: nad0k@aol.com
The American Medical Mission to Gaza was the only group of American doctors to enter Gaza after the recent fighting to provide medical assistance and to witness the humanitarian crisis first-hand.
Dr. Imran Qureshi will be on hand to speak about his experiences in Gaza. Dr. Qureshi is a Radiologist at Rush Copely Medical Center in Aurora IL.
Wednesday, February 11, 2009
Event in Worcester MA for Gaza
WORCESTER, MA
Gaza: From the Inside Looking Out
Raising Awareness and Funds
Featuring
Dr. Ismail Mehr of IMANA/American Medical Mission to Gaza
Saturday, February 28th, 2009
1 PM
Worcester Islamic Center
248 East Mountain St
Worcester, MA 01606
The American Medical Mission to Gaza was the only group of American doctors to enter Gaza after the recent fighting to provide medical assistance and to witness the humanitarian crisis first-hand. Dr. Mehr led the group of doctors to the Gaza strip in January 2009 and now will be at the Worcester Islamic Center to share his personal experiences.
Event open to Public. Please Forward Widely
Hosted by the Worcester Islamic Center
RSVP to WICevent@gmail.com
Questions? Contact: WICevent@gmail.com
Facebook Event
Gaza: From the Inside Looking Out
Raising Awareness and Funds
Featuring
Dr. Ismail Mehr of IMANA/American Medical Mission to Gaza
Saturday, February 28th, 2009
1 PM
Worcester Islamic Center
248 East Mountain St
Worcester, MA 01606
The American Medical Mission to Gaza was the only group of American doctors to enter Gaza after the recent fighting to provide medical assistance and to witness the humanitarian crisis first-hand. Dr. Mehr led the group of doctors to the Gaza strip in January 2009 and now will be at the Worcester Islamic Center to share his personal experiences.
Event open to Public. Please Forward Widely
Hosted by the Worcester Islamic Center
RSVP to WICevent@gmail.com
Questions? Contact: WICevent@gmail.com
Facebook Event
American Doctors Return to US after Gaza Mission
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Lombard IL (February 11, 2009) -- The physicians who returned from the 10 day humanitarian medical mission to the Gaza Strip - have resumed their daily practices. The group of eleven doctors - were the only American and Canadian physicians to travel to Gaza to provide humanitarian aid to the war-torn region.
“Going there really enlightened me and opened my eyes.” said Dr. Ismail Mehr, an anesthesiologist from Hornell New York - who led the group of specialists. “The situation was worse that we had ever imagined.” Along with Mehr, other doctors from American Medical Mission to Gaza treated patients with an assortment of injuries—burns, shrapnel wounds, and amputations.
“I was surprised and shocked to see the extent and degree of civilian casualties,” said Dr. Irfan Galaria a Salt Lake City plastic surgeon who treated several burn patients, some presumably from white phosphorus-related injuries. Galaria operated extensively on a facial injury of a 1-year old girl without the use of local anesthetic – a reoccurring problem in area desperately needing medical supplies.
“Every time I stuck her with the needle she could feel it.”
In a case that received international attention, Texas urologist Saeed Akhtar and Mehr removed a watermelon-sized tumor from the kidney of Abdullah Shawwa – a four year child. The tumor was attributed to untreated chronic disease that many in Gaza Strip are afflicted with because of the embargo posed on the region. Furthermore, Mehr noted “Due to travel restrictions and the embargo, kids like Shawwa may not be able to receive appropriate follow-up care due to lack of medical expertise and equipment.”
Dr. Rick Colwell, an emergency room doctor from Sioux City, Iowa who was part of the mission said, “Something has to be done about this embargo...it’s inhumane.”
“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 defined under the charter of an American charitable organization,” Mehr said. With the announcement that Egypt will reseal the Rafah border crossing with Gaza and Israel continuing its embargo on the region – Mehr and his team might be the last group of American physicians to provide any humanitarian aid to a area inflicted with high number of causalities and fatalities due to Israeli strikes and poor medical resources.
The team of volunteers also included Dr. Imran Qureshi, a radiologist from Naperville, Illionis, Dr. Kanwal Shazia Chaudhry a pediatric and emergency room specialist from New York City, Dr. Labiq Syed, a research fellow at Johns Hopkins, Dr. Labib Syed an interventional radiologist from Baltimore, and Dr. Shariq Sayeed a vascular surgeon from Atlanta. Ahmed Kasem, an attorney with the California firm, Kasem, Ko & Ahmed assisted the team with logistics.
Lombard IL (February 11, 2009) -- The physicians who returned from the 10 day humanitarian medical mission to the Gaza Strip - have resumed their daily practices. The group of eleven doctors - were the only American and Canadian physicians to travel to Gaza to provide humanitarian aid to the war-torn region.
“Going there really enlightened me and opened my eyes.” said Dr. Ismail Mehr, an anesthesiologist from Hornell New York - who led the group of specialists. “The situation was worse that we had ever imagined.” Along with Mehr, other doctors from American Medical Mission to Gaza treated patients with an assortment of injuries—burns, shrapnel wounds, and amputations.
“I was surprised and shocked to see the extent and degree of civilian casualties,” said Dr. Irfan Galaria a Salt Lake City plastic surgeon who treated several burn patients, some presumably from white phosphorus-related injuries. Galaria operated extensively on a facial injury of a 1-year old girl without the use of local anesthetic – a reoccurring problem in area desperately needing medical supplies.
“Every time I stuck her with the needle she could feel it.”
In a case that received international attention, Texas urologist Saeed Akhtar and Mehr removed a watermelon-sized tumor from the kidney of Abdullah Shawwa – a four year child. The tumor was attributed to untreated chronic disease that many in Gaza Strip are afflicted with because of the embargo posed on the region. Furthermore, Mehr noted “Due to travel restrictions and the embargo, kids like Shawwa may not be able to receive appropriate follow-up care due to lack of medical expertise and equipment.”
Dr. Rick Colwell, an emergency room doctor from Sioux City, Iowa who was part of the mission said, “Something has to be done about this embargo...it’s inhumane.”
“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 defined under the charter of an American charitable organization,” Mehr said. With the announcement that Egypt will reseal the Rafah border crossing with Gaza and Israel continuing its embargo on the region – Mehr and his team might be the last group of American physicians to provide any humanitarian aid to a area inflicted with high number of causalities and fatalities due to Israeli strikes and poor medical resources.
The team of volunteers also included Dr. Imran Qureshi, a radiologist from Naperville, Illionis, Dr. Kanwal Shazia Chaudhry a pediatric and emergency room specialist from New York City, Dr. Labiq Syed, a research fellow at Johns Hopkins, Dr. Labib Syed an interventional radiologist from Baltimore, and Dr. Shariq Sayeed a vascular surgeon from Atlanta. Ahmed Kasem, an attorney with the California firm, Kasem, Ko & Ahmed assisted the team with logistics.
Gaza and the Aftermath Part 1
Kevin Doran of WLEA 1480 AM interviews Dr. Ismail Mehr
** Please note the views of the host do not represent those of AMMG
Gaza Fundraiser in Buffalo NY
Organization of Arab Students, Muslim Student Association, and Western New York Peace Center are presenting a Charity Banquet (a fundraising event for Gaza)
February 27th,2009 from 6pm-11pm
*Dinner served at 7pm (Halal Meat)
Salvatore's Italian Gardens Restaurant,
6461 Transit Road Depew, NY 14043
Speaker Laila El-Haddad (Past Al Jazeera Correspondent)
Speaker Dr. Ismail Mehr (IMANA Relief/American Medical Mission to Gaza)
Auctions
**Donations to the Palestinian Children Relief Fund
**Tickets are on sale! You may purchase them from eboard members or
SBI Ticket Office 221 Student Union
$20 Students
$30 non-students
For further information feel free to contact Tamera Akarah (716) 400-3741
February 27th,2009 from 6pm-11pm
*Dinner served at 7pm (Halal Meat)
Salvatore's Italian Gardens Restaurant,
6461 Transit Road Depew, NY 14043
Speaker Laila El-Haddad (Past Al Jazeera Correspondent)
Speaker Dr. Ismail Mehr (IMANA Relief/American Medical Mission to Gaza)
Auctions
**Donations to the Palestinian Children Relief Fund
**Tickets are on sale! You may purchase them from eboard members or
SBI Ticket Office 221 Student Union
$20 Students
$30 non-students
For further information feel free to contact Tamera Akarah (716) 400-3741
Tuesday, February 10, 2009
Monday, February 9, 2009
Gaza Fundraiser in Wayland MA
Gaza: An Eyewitness Account
Raising Awareness and Funds
Featuring
Dr. Ismail Mehr of IMANA/American Medical Mission to Gaza
Saturday, February 28th, 2009
6:30 PM
Islamic Center of Boston
126 Boston Post Road
Wayland, MA 01778
The American Medical Mission to Gaza was the only group of American doctors to enter Gaza after the recent fighting to provide medical assistance and to witness the humanitarian crisis first-hand. Dr. Mehr led the group of doctors to the Gaza strip in January 2009.
Donations will be collected at the door and throughout the evening for Islamic Relief USA.
Student $10/Non-Student $15
Event open to Public. Please Forward Widely,
Hosted by Islamic Center of Boston Youth Group
Co-sponsored by Islamic Center of Boston and Muslim Public Affairs Council-Boston
RSVP to wayland.yg@icbwayland.org
Questions? Contact: Wayland.yg@icbwayland.org
Facebook Event
Raising Awareness and Funds
Featuring
Dr. Ismail Mehr of IMANA/American Medical Mission to Gaza
Saturday, February 28th, 2009
6:30 PM
Islamic Center of Boston
126 Boston Post Road
Wayland, MA 01778
The American Medical Mission to Gaza was the only group of American doctors to enter Gaza after the recent fighting to provide medical assistance and to witness the humanitarian crisis first-hand. Dr. Mehr led the group of doctors to the Gaza strip in January 2009.
Donations will be collected at the door and throughout the evening for Islamic Relief USA.
Student $10/Non-Student $15
Event open to Public. Please Forward Widely,
Hosted by Islamic Center of Boston Youth Group
Co-sponsored by Islamic Center of Boston and Muslim Public Affairs Council-Boston
RSVP to wayland.yg@icbwayland.org
Questions? Contact: Wayland.yg@icbwayland.org
Facebook Event
Local Doctor Describes Chaos in Gaza
Dolly A Butz of the Sioux City Journal reports:
St. Luke's physician treated conflict's injured
SIOUX CITY -- You hear machine gunfire in the distance. F-16s break the sound barrier overhead. Patients are suffering from chronic illnesses all around you, but you don't have the necessary drugs to treat them. The patient you treated a few days before for a gunshot wound is found smothered in his hospital bed.
Working in the emergency room at a hospital in Gaza City is "a little different" than working in the emergency room at St. Luke's Regional Medical Center-Sioux City, Dr. Rick Colwell learned during a recent 10-day humanitarian and medical mission to the war-torn area.
The World Health Organization reports that more than 5,200 Palestinians, including 1,552 children, 652 women and 22 health-care professionals, have been wounded in the recent fighting between Israelis and Palestinians in the Gaza Strip.
On Jan. 21, Colwell was one of nine American and four Canadian doctors who left for Gaza on a trip sponsored by the Islamic Medical Association of North America.
From Cairo, Egypt, the American Medical Mission to Gaza made a six-hour drive to the Gaza-Egypt border. They were able to cross the border on the second day with the help of an attorney. When they arrived in Gaza City, a cease fire had been called and Israeli troops were pulling out.
Colwell described the scene at the hospital in Gaza City where he put in 10-12-hour days as "controlled chaos." It contained no triage unit and people were milling around outside, making it difficult to determine who was a patient and who was not. The hospital's doctors were working 20 hour-days, for nearly four weeks straight with few supplies, equipment and medications to treat patients, Colwell said.
Colwell went to work immediately treating patients with gunshot wounds, fractures and lacerations.
A tumor on a 3-year-old boy's liver had grown to the size of a football when the child came to the hospital for surgery. Colwell said the boy, who needs chemotherapy, could have easily been treated in the United States, but due to the embargo and border closings medicine is not available.
"Something has to be done about this embargo," he said. "It's inhumane to lock people in an outdoor prison, basically."
Colwell, who returned to Sioux City Sunday, said he intends to go back to Gaza and bring medical equipment with him, but he has no definite plans at this time.
Witness to war
Dr. Barbara-Anne Huculak, instructor of the physical therapist assistant program at Western Iowa Tech Community College, was staying at a hotel five blocks from the Old City in Jerusalem, when Israel launched missile attacks against Gaza on Dec. 27.Huculak, who was in Jerusalem on a historical and archeological tour of Israel and Jordan, said her group took alternate routes to sites in Jerusalem, and wasn't allowed to venture out within the city of Amman, Jordan, because of protesting."I guess I just go with the flow and don't let those things bother me, but I keep alert and I'm aware of my surroundings," she said. "It is unusual because it's not an everyday experience."
St. Luke's physician treated conflict's injured
SIOUX CITY -- You hear machine gunfire in the distance. F-16s break the sound barrier overhead. Patients are suffering from chronic illnesses all around you, but you don't have the necessary drugs to treat them. The patient you treated a few days before for a gunshot wound is found smothered in his hospital bed.
Working in the emergency room at a hospital in Gaza City is "a little different" than working in the emergency room at St. Luke's Regional Medical Center-Sioux City, Dr. Rick Colwell learned during a recent 10-day humanitarian and medical mission to the war-torn area.
The World Health Organization reports that more than 5,200 Palestinians, including 1,552 children, 652 women and 22 health-care professionals, have been wounded in the recent fighting between Israelis and Palestinians in the Gaza Strip.
On Jan. 21, Colwell was one of nine American and four Canadian doctors who left for Gaza on a trip sponsored by the Islamic Medical Association of North America.
From Cairo, Egypt, the American Medical Mission to Gaza made a six-hour drive to the Gaza-Egypt border. They were able to cross the border on the second day with the help of an attorney. When they arrived in Gaza City, a cease fire had been called and Israeli troops were pulling out.
Colwell described the scene at the hospital in Gaza City where he put in 10-12-hour days as "controlled chaos." It contained no triage unit and people were milling around outside, making it difficult to determine who was a patient and who was not. The hospital's doctors were working 20 hour-days, for nearly four weeks straight with few supplies, equipment and medications to treat patients, Colwell said.
Colwell went to work immediately treating patients with gunshot wounds, fractures and lacerations.
A tumor on a 3-year-old boy's liver had grown to the size of a football when the child came to the hospital for surgery. Colwell said the boy, who needs chemotherapy, could have easily been treated in the United States, but due to the embargo and border closings medicine is not available.
"Something has to be done about this embargo," he said. "It's inhumane to lock people in an outdoor prison, basically."
Colwell, who returned to Sioux City Sunday, said he intends to go back to Gaza and bring medical equipment with him, but he has no definite plans at this time.
Witness to war
Dr. Barbara-Anne Huculak, instructor of the physical therapist assistant program at Western Iowa Tech Community College, was staying at a hotel five blocks from the Old City in Jerusalem, when Israel launched missile attacks against Gaza on Dec. 27.Huculak, who was in Jerusalem on a historical and archeological tour of Israel and Jordan, said her group took alternate routes to sites in Jerusalem, and wasn't allowed to venture out within the city of Amman, Jordan, because of protesting."I guess I just go with the flow and don't let those things bother me, but I keep alert and I'm aware of my surroundings," she said. "It is unusual because it's not an everyday experience."
Sunday, February 8, 2009
CBS Affiliate WJZ-TV in Baltimore interviews Dr. Labiq and Labib Syed
Jessica Kartalija of WJZ-TV Reports:
As bloodshed continues in the Gaza strip, a team of doctors including two brothers out of Johns Hopkins, travel overseas to provide medical care.
Humanitarian aid supplies intended for some 5,000 wounded Palestinians has repeatedly been confiscated. The Israeli offensive has killed 1,300 Palestinians and left thousands homeless. Doctors Labiq and Labib Syed are part of a team of doctors with the Islamic Medical Association of North America that traveled to the war-torn region.
"Basically the medical system is in despair. It's in collapse. There's no medicines going in, going out," Dr. Labib Syed said.
Syed is an assistant professor of radiology and surgery at Johns Hopkins Hospital. As a father, he says working with the children hit very close to home.
"There aren't supplies coming in or out, so all the children--any procedure we had to do, we had to do without local anesthetic, even putting sutures in without anesthesia," he said.
When they arrived in Gaza, the team of doctors was divided based on their specialties.
"Only when you are standing at ground zero and you look around can you sort of get the depth of this whole situation," he said. "Even the locals had never witnessed this type of destruction before."
Labiq has hundreds of photos, many from his time spent with orphaned children.
"Speaking and communicating with the children...the stories that were coming out were stories that I could barely make up with my imagination and they're talking about their realities," Labiq said.
The doctors say, politics aside, something needs to be done quickly to save the thousands of children.
"The most important thing that we would like to bring out is that there's a humanitarian crisis," Labib said.
The doctors had also assisted with hurricane relief efforts in the Dominican Republic.
Saturday, February 7, 2009
Where's the Beef?
In the 80's, "Where's the Beef?" was a catch phrase for a popular Wendy's commercial. Unfortunately in Gaza, this is no laughing matter. On the 29th of January, the team took a break from the demands of Al-Shifa Hospital to meet with the local Gazans who were trying to make a new sta
rt once again, following the Israeli strikes. As we were driving through Jabaliyah, passing the UNICEF refugee camp, we suddenly came upon a gut-wrenching smell. The stench was so strong many of us began to gag and feared for the worst. I looked out the window and towards the right I saw scattered throughout an open field—what appeared to be over 100 dead cow carcasses. I asked one of my friends if this was collateral damage, as I covered my mouth holding back what I thought inevitably was going to be my lunch coming back up.I guess in war, nothing is safe. We had already seen numerous children, women and elderly as patients—those who had been wounded and maimed during the 22 days of conflict in this war-torn territory. We had no idea how these animals were killed or for what reason, but their death remains incomprehensible to me.
In addition, we were informed that the Gaza Zoo was also attacked, with most of the animals killed in their cages. We will most likely never know the answer or understand why these animals were killed. It's a shame that the children of Gaza, who escaped and survived the attacks will no longer have the simple pleasure of visiting a Zoo. In the Gaza Strip there are not many reasons for the children to smile. And the one place that children universally respond to with curiosity and a smile, is no longer.Read more about Zoo Animals
Dr. Ismail Mehr is an anesthesiologist from Hornell, NY. He was the team leader for the American medical mission.
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.
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