Rambam Medical Center in Haifa continues provides medical care to patients from Gaza and the PA (Palestinian Authority) year round. Currently, hospitalized patients include 3 adults and 8 children from Gaza, and 3 adults and 2 children from the PA. In addition, this Haifa hospital has 7 patients from the PA being treated in the outpatient clinics. Additional patients from Gaza area scheduled for treatments later this week.

Most of the hospitalized children are in the pediatric oncology or nephrology wards. Of these, the majority is under the age of three, and they are accompanied by relatives. Additional medical problems and the need for long-term treatment makes lengthy hospitalizations standard for these children.

Medical cooperation between Israel and the PA continues despite the shooting. According to Yazid Falah, the coordinator for Palestinian patients coming to Rambam, “Despite the security situation, and despite the fact that both sides are fighting, all continues as usual in the realm of medical cooperation,” explains Falah, “even in times of war we continue to receive patients and give them the care they need—children and adults.”

While the medical routine is maintained, the current situation cannot be avoided and there is a feeling of tension in the air. Falah is in close contact with the Palestinians patients. He shares that they feel trapped in an impossible situation. “On the one hand they are in Israel and see the consequences of the actions of Hamas and how people get hurt on this side of the border. On the other hand, their families in Gaza are under attack by the IDF and they fear for the lives of their loved ones,” says Falah, “there are those who have told me they are ashamed of what Gaza is doing, and others say they are afraid of how people will talk and look at them here in the hospital. Other have said they are afraid to return to Gaza. Others just don’t know what to think. Some have made contact with their families and learned of property damage and casualties near their homes. Those people have a life there and see the kind of life people have here. At the end of the day, they simply want to live in peace, but it is clear to them that the situation has changed. They believe the situation will only to get worse “.

The hospital has become a second home to these patients. Parents and children share rooms, activities, treatments, and begin to develop solid relationships. They are sick together and heal together.

“When the hostilities escalated, the Palestinian patients feared a cold reception,” says Falah, “we explained that would never happen in an Israeli hospital. Here you see people and not nationalities. Many times, Israeli patients reach out to their Palestinian “neighbors” to help them feel more comfortable and to encourage them. Eventually, all are in the same boat.”

Rambam Health Care Campus treats hundreds of patients each year from the Palestinian Authority and Gaza, including 650 children and teenagers in 2013. These patients come to Rambam for a variety of medical problems, some of which are complex and require hospitalization.

(YWN – Israel Desk, Jerusalem)