Palestinian Ministry of Health Condemns Its Children To Death

Call it a boycott, call it politics--or just call it stupid: The Palestinian Ministry of Health has decided that it will not allow sick children to get the treatment they need in Israel:

The Palestinian Centre for Human Rights (PCHR) condemns the decision taken by the Palestinian Ministry of Health to decrease transfers of patients who are in critical or serious health conditions to Israeli hospitals to receive medical treatment or resume previous treatment, under the claim of rationalizing medical transfers from the Gaza Strip. PCHR expresses utmost concern for the lives of dozens of patients who urgently need medical treatment in advanced health facilities, due to lack of capabilities in hospitals throughout the West Bank, including Jerusalem, and the Gaza Strip, with which the Ministry of Health deals.

According to investigations conducted by PCHR, the Ministry of Health in Ramallah issued a decision decreasing transfers of patients to Israeli hospitals starting from 02 November 2011, and the Department of External Treatment in Gaza has been committed to this decision. The decision is attributed, according to sources of the Ministry, to the high costs of treatment in Israeli hospitals. These sources pointed out that this decision had been studied and discussed in the Ministry of Health for years, but it was delayed due the need of some patients, especially those suffering from serious or incurable diseases in need of treatment in advanced health facilities, and because Israeli hospitals are closer to the Gaza Strip than Egypt and Jordan.

This decision has led to stopping dozens of transfers of patients who suffer from serious diseases, 90% of them cancer patients, whose treatment is not available in the Gaza Strip. It has also endangered the lives of dozens of patients who are in critical conditions and whose transfer to Egyptian hospitals is not possible due to the long distance. Furthermore, not all medical treatment for their diseases is available in hospitals in Jerusalem or the West Bank. Two children died as they urgently needed advanced medical treatment, but the Ministry of Health transferred them to hospitals that cannot treat their diseases. Those hospitals apologized for not admitting them, and the Ministry of Health did not transfer them to Israeli Hospitals. PCHR lawyers immediately intervened with concerned bodies and with the Director General of Medical Insurance in the West Bank in an attempt to save the lives of the two children, but they died before a response was sent to PCHR.

Let the leaders of the Palestinian terrors brag that they value death more than life--while hiding in hospital basements--there is no excuse for forcing children to die for them.

According to Wikipedia: Children in the Israeli–Palestinian conflict:

The quality of medical care in Israel is significantly better than anywhere in the West Bank and Gaza. Irwin Mansdorf, a member of Task Force on Medical and Public Health Issues, Scholars for Peace in the Middle East wrote about routine care that Palestinians continue to receive in Israeli hospitals and from Israeli physicians.[42] "Palestinians receive care in Israel that they could not receive in any neighboring Arab country. In the last few months alone nearly 200 Palestinian children who were referred under a joint Israeli-Palestinian programme to treat children with serious medical conditions have already undergone major surgery at Israeli hospitals at no cost to the families. Another 350-400 Palestinian children have undergone free diagnostic testing."

Saving Children, established by the Peres Peace Center, enables hundreds of Palestinian children to receive free medical care, in particular cardiac surgery, from Israeli surgeons."[43]

"Save A Child's Heart" is a program in which any child with heart problems can receive free medical attention and surgery from select doctors and hospitals within Israel. From 1996 to 2007, 4,591 children had been examined world wide, of the 1848 children treated 828 (45%) were Palestinian.[44]

In its Take the Palestine Quiz today!, CIF has the following question:

3.) How many Palestinians were treated in Israeli hospitals in 2010?
None; 180; 1,800; 18,000; or 180,000

The answer:

These included many thousands of patients from Gaza, despite its government’s constant attacks on Israeli citizens.

Israeli hospitals would be able to treat many more Palestinians if security was not an issue. Before the 2000 Intifada was declared, any Palestinian could simply arrive at an Israeli hospital and be treated.

The source is the IDF site: 180,000 Palestinians Treated in Israeli Hospitals This Year

The point: The excuses from Gaza for not sending children to Israel for care is exactly that--an excuse.

The disregard of Palestinian leaders for the lives of their people includes the children.

Technorati Tag: Israel and Gaza and Hamas.