Gaza patients continue to die when Israel denies access to care

Ma'an
...a two-year-old boy died from congenital heart failure that could not be treated in Gaza.

According to a report from the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) the boy’s death occurred while he waited to the day of his appointment at the Wolfson Medical Center in Israel, which was set up on 19 January, after being previously postponed.

... During the month of January, the Israeli District Liaison Office (DCO) processed 1,081 permit applications for patients referred to medical treatment outside of the Gaza Strip, according to OCHA. Of these applications, 78 percent were approved, 19 percent were delayed, and two percent were denied.

When the application is delayed, the appointment to the relevant medical facility is lost and the patient must seek a new appointment and subsequently submit an entirely new application.

In 2009, the approval rate for patients referred to Israeli hospitals was 67 percent, according to OCHA.

One of the hospitals children in Gaza are frequently referred to is the Makassed Hospital on the Mount of Olives in East Jerusalem.

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