Displaced Palestinian doctor provides medical care in tent in southern Gaza

By Nour Abu Aisha

GAZA CITY, Palestine (AA) - Palestinian doctor Fidaa Al-Qurshali provides primary care and medical services to displaced patients inside a medical tent at a camp in Rafah in southern Gaza Strip.

Qurshali recently set up the tent to provide medical care and medicines to displaced patients fleeing the war that has destroyed their families and homes.

This comes at a time when diseases are spreading among the displaced who find it difficult to reach remote hospitals, which are usually far from newly established camps.

A few hospitals operating in Gaza focus only on providing emergency services to those injured in Israeli attacks.

According to local and international reports, the Israeli war caused the collapse of the health sector in Gaza.

During the ongoing war in Gaza, the Israeli army targeted medical facilities and ambulances.

At first, it mainly targeted medical facilities in northern and central Gaza, then moved to institutions in the south as ground battles expanded after the end of a temporary humanitarian truce with Hamas in early December.

Israel has launched relentless air and ground attacks on the Gaza Strip since a cross-border attack by the Palestinian resistance group which Tel Aviv claims killed 1,200 people in Israel.

At least 23,843 Palestinians have since been killed, mostly women and children, and 60,317 injured, according to Palestinian health authorities.

According to the UN, 85% of the population of Gaza is already internally displaced amid acute shortages of food, clean water and medicine, while 60% of the enclave’s infrastructure is damaged or destroyed.

- Health care is priority

Qarshali provides medical advice to patients living in the camp to prevent infections and the spread of more diseases.

The doctor, who is the mother of five, told Anadolu that she was displaced from the Al-Shujaiya neighborhood in eastern Gaza City to Rafah, where she took shelter in camps alongside her family.

“I started providing free medical services after insistence from the displaced people who needed health care,” said the Palestinian doctor.

At the beginning, Qarshali said, she was visiting tents and checking on displaced residents in case they needed services.

Later on, the doctor said, she set up a tent, where she began receiving sick displaced persons.

"I receive patients at any time. The interaction between us due to the current situation is not official, but is based on a brotherly relationship,” said Qarshali, noting that she may even receive patients at night.

“Some patients need stitches, some others suffer from high temperatures, acute intestinal infections, and other conditions,” she added.

The Palestinian doctor said she receives between 50 and 100 cases at her clinic daily.

- Harsh conditions

Qarshali described the circumstances she works in as “harsh” in light of the lack of resources.

“I diagnose my patients while sitting on the ground, there are no suitable beds to provide medical services,” she said.

Regarding medicine and supplies available to her, Qarshali said she succeeded in providing a kit with the help of some Palestinians, whom she described as “good people.”

As the war continues, health institutions and residents complain of the scarcity of medicines available in Gaza in light of the destruction of health facilities and the closure of crossings.

Some of the medical supplies come in the form of aid from relief and international institutions.

The Palestinian Health Ministry announced Friday that a shipment of medicines and a new batch of vaccines for children began arriving in Gaza in coordination with UNICEF.

Health Minister Mai Al-Kaila said the shipment contains polio vaccines, in addition to medicines that the ministry had purchased in cooperation with UNICEF.

Officials and non-profits working in the territory have time and again pointed to the shortage of medical supplies, including children's vaccines, warning of catastrophic health repercussions.

Since Oct. 7, Israel has closed the crossings between the Gaza Strip and the outside world, while the Rafah crossing has been partially opened for the entry of limited aid, the exit of dozens of sick and injured patients and a number of foreign passport holders.

Israel allowed limited amounts of humanitarian aid to enter Gaza on Nov. 24 through the Rafah crossing, as part of a week-long truce between the factions in Gaza and Israel, which was reached through Qatari-Egyptian-American mediation, including a prisoner exchange deal.

* Writing by Ikram Kouachi