Israeli-trained Palestinian Doctors Perform Corneal Transplants in Gaza

After undergoing training in Israel, Palestinian doctors are now able to save Palestinians’ eyesight and improve their health in the Gaza Strip.

At the end of 2016, a new branch of St John’s Eye Hospital was opened in Hamas-controlled Gaza and, corneal transplant surgeries are now being performed in the Gaza Strip by Palestinian doctors who have undergone training in Israel.

Last week, two Palestinian doctors who work at the Jerusalem hospital crossed into Gaza to perform rounds of treatments and corneal transplants at the St John’s hospital branch in Gaza, the IDF’s Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories (COGAT) reported.

The two doctors work regularly at the St. John’s Hospital in Jerusalem and once every two months travel to Gaza in order to perform transplants and provide other services to patients living in the Gaza Strip. They bring their medical equipment from Jerusalem to Gaza in order to give their patients the best treatment possible.

Dalia Bassa, the Health Coordinator of the IDF’s Civil Administration, together with the Gaza Coordination and Liaison Administration, coordinate the entry of doctors into Gaza and their return to the hospital in Jerusalem.

“We bring medical care to Gazans and save them the aggravation of leaving home and going a distant hospital in Judea and Samaria,” Bassa stated.

Cornea surgery is an important operation and saves the eyesight of many Palestinian patients a year. ​Since the beginning of 2017, approximately 60 corneal transplant surgeries have been performed by doctors in Gaza.

Israel regularly offers its medical services, know-how and expertise to Palestinian medical services and patients, in many cases free of charge.

By: United with Israel News Staff