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UN PhotoWHO / GAZA PATIENTS TRANSFERS
STORY: WHO / GAZA MEDICAL SUPPLIES
TRT: 8:30
SOURCE: WHO
RESTRICTIONS: PLEASE CREDIT WHO ON SCREEN
LANGUAGE: ARABIC / ENGLISH / NATS
DATELINE: 13 AND 14 APRIL 2024, GAZA
13 APRIL 2024, AL-AHLI HOSPITAL, NORTH GAZA
1.Wide shot, mission team members walking through hospital grounds.
2. SOUNDBITE (English) Dr Richard Peeperkorn, WHO Representative, occupied Palestinian territory:
“We are now in the chapel, the chapel of Al-Ahli hospital, which also serves as an inpatient ward. And you can see the chapel benches that the church benches actually are used as beds with some ad hoc mattresses in between. Also, here we see many, many trauma cases.”
3. Med shot, mission team members discussing patient needs
4. SOUNDBITE (English) Dr Richard Peeperkorn, WHO Representative, occupied Palestinian territory:
“The majority of patients are trauma cases. And you can see some of the most horrific trauma cases. A lot of amputees, we see external fixators everywhere. And there's still a shortage of all kinds of medication, including anaesthesia, which we need to get in as quickly as possible.”
5. Various shots, mission team members talking to patients
6. SOUNDBITE (English) Dr Richard Peeperkorn, WHO Representative, occupied Palestinian territory:
“What we did today was bringing in fuel 20,000 litres; 14,000 for Al-Ahli and 6000 for Al-Sabah. We are also taking with us three critical patients. But we could have taken with us maybe 50 patients or 100 patients who deserve better treatment and care today.”
7. SOUNDBITE (English) Dr Athanasios Gargavanis, WHO Trauma surgeon & Emergency officer, WHO:
“Today WHO is in Gaza City in Al-Ahli hospital. We are referring three patients from the north to the south, along with an Emergency Medical Team CADUS, that's right here behind me to continue the care of these patients from the north to the south. WHO continues to support the health care in Gaza.”
8. Various shots, CADUS EMTs and WHO in discussion beside an ambulance
9. SOUNDBITE (Arabic) Sami Kamal Abdo, referral patient:
“May God grant relief to the Palestinian people, and I wish recovery and health for all. And hopefully by God’s will this war will end; enough war, enough injuries, enough sadness, enough destruction.”
10. SOUNDBITE (Arabic) Jana Yassin, referral patient:
“I am truly happy that am finally going to get treated and will be able to walk again and get back to my normal life. And my message is for this war to end.”
11. Various shots, mission convoy departing from the hospital.
13 APRIL 2024, 400M SOUTH OF THE WADI GAZA CHECKPOINT
12. Two shots, showing a dead body being prepared and secured to the hood of the vehicle.
Important Note to editors: The convoy team members noticed a body lying on the side of the road. After receiving a greenlight from the checkpoint, they carefully retrieved the body and put the deceased in a body bag. Due to lack of space inside the vehicles, they secured the deceased to the hood of the car, and proceeded onwards towards the south to handover the body to Palestine Red Crescent Society for a dignified burial.
14 APRIL 2024, KAMAL ADWAN HOSPITAL, NORTH GAZA
13. Various shots, the WHO led mission convoy arriving with ambulances and health workers
14. Various shots, the mission team inside the hospital, meeting health workers and preparing patients, including a child patient, for transfer.
15. SOUNDBITE (Arabic) Nesma Ayyad, mother of young referral patient Jana Ayyad (Kamal Adwan):
“I am truly happy that she’s finally going to leave and receive treatment. And that finally my wish has been granted. I hope she comes back healthy as she was before or even in a better state.”
16. Various shots, the young patient being carried down towards the ambulance.
17. SOUNDBITE (Arabic) Huda Dalul, referral patient:
“I thank the World health Organization for what they are doing for me, may God grant them good things. And, I wish to get back to my country and my children safely.”
18. Various shots, supplies and food from UNICEF being unloaded from a lorry.
19. SOUNDBITE (Arabic) Dr Hossam Abu Safiya, Director of Kamal Adwan Hospital:
“I extend my sincere thanks to my colleagues in the World Health Organization and UNICEF for what they have done today. Today, thank God, they took three patients to transport them from northern Gaza to southern Gaza to receive treatment and to prepare them for examinations and medical supplies that we are unable to provide to them at Kamal Adwan Hospital. We also thank them for the supplies and food for the children that they provided, and we hope, God willing, more and regular supplies of all necessary needs will be provided to Kamal Adwan Hospital.”
20. Various shots, a patient being unloaded from the back of a car, being wheeled across the hospital grounds and being loaded into an ambulance
21. SOUNDBITE (Arabic) Abdallah Al Haj, referral patient:
“Today, happiness begins from this place, that I will be getting special care, as a person with a disability with special needs, and with a serious injury. Being evacuated to a place with proper health care, for these pain and wounds. I hope by God’s will, that it will be a successful medical trip for me and that I return to my home safe and healthy, and be able to continue my activities and duties.”
On Sunday (14 Apr), the World Health Organization (WHO) and partners transferred two patients from Kamal Adwan hospital in Gaza to a field hospital in the south. On Saturday (13 Apr), WHO and partners successfully transferred three critical patients and their two companions from Al-Ahli Hospital in northern Gaza to two field hospitals in Rafah.
The team also delivered 19,400 liters of fuel, of which 5000 liters will be provided to As-Sahabah Hospital.
Originally an 80-bed facility, Al-Ahli Hospital now has over 120 patients, overflowing into the library and chapel, with benches and pews serving as makeshift beds.
Many patients, including children and people with severe trauma injuries and amputations are in critical condition. They urgently need referral to the south or medical transfer outside Gaza for specialized treatment.
To sustain health care, the hospital needs: support to expand by at least 50 more beds; urgent deployment of an international emergency medical team to support surgeries, particularly vascular and reconstructive surgery; pain management medication, external fixators, trauma care supplies, and essential medicines.
WHO is continuing efforts to resupply the hospital, expand bed capacity and facilitate patient referrals, but it is nowhere close to the scale needed.
Overall, WHO’s efforts to deliver aid and restore hospitals are hindered by limited access, mission denials and delays, self-distribution of supplies among desperate crowds, and ongoing security challenges.
WHO urgently need clearer security guarantees, a functional deconfliction mechanism, and predictable and expedited movements across check points to flood Gaza with aid and support restoration of the health system.
On Sunday (14 Apr), the World Health Organization (WHO) and partners transferred two patients from Kamal Adwan hospital in Gaza to a field hospital in the south: a seven year old girl with severe acute malnutrition and dehydration and a 34 year old woman with multiple facial injuries and fractures.
The mission faced severe delays despite deconfliction.
The patients will be further evacuated abroad in the upcoming days to receive needed care. Many more need urgent medical transfers outside Gaza.
The collapsing health system in Gaza has increasingly limited capacity to provide the health services that people need.
WHO once again appeal for a ceasefire, so lives can be saved and hospitals rebuilt.
