FIMA Year Book 2010-2011 - Federation of Islamic Medical ...

FIMA SUPPORTS SPECIALTY
Support for this renaissance of medical education
came from individual families, and scholarships
awarded by various governments and nongovernmental
agencies that sympathized with the
plight of the Palestinians, under the longest
military occupation in modern history,
oppression, ethnic cleansing, racial discrimination
and various types of human rights violations
imposed by one the most cruel occupations in
human history 2-6 .
Since 1967, health services in the occupied
Palestinian territory continued to decline with
shortages of staff, hospital beds, medications,
essential and specialized services. The current
services have been unable to provide adequately
for the health needs of the people especially in
tertiary care and Palestinian patients continued to
be referred to tertiary health institutions in Jordan
and Egypt 6-8 . The pool of trained and specialist
physicians have continued to dwindle due to
death, retirement or forced migration, with poor
substitution.
The first medical school was established by a
charitable Palestinian NGO in occupied Al-Quds
( Jerusalem ) in 1994. The second was also
established in the city of Nablus in the West bank,
in 1999. Both institutions suffered from various
handicaps and deficiencies that have prevailed
until now.
In the Gaza strip, the situation was much worse.
Under Israeli occupation, perennial military
blockade and incursions, medical care deteriorated
to extremely low standards.
Local medical education lagged behind. Two
medical schools were established by local NGOs.
The first was a branch of the medical school in Al-
Quds, established in 1999, while the second was
established only in 2006. Both schools have been
suffering from lack of educators, poor building
structures, meager equipments, very poor finances,
and the military siege has barred all forms of
external influx of educational materials, and
qualified educators.
The World Health Organization (WHO-EMRO)
health statistics describes the following parameters
for 2009 9 :
Numbers per 10,000 population:
• Physicians: 17.4
• Dentists: 4.6
• Pharmacists: 7.6
• Nurses and Midwives: 16.1
• Hospital beds: 12.9
• Primary health care centers: 1.8
In the same year (2009), there were 52 hospitals
in the West Bank and 24 in Gaza 9. All of these
health facilities suffered major deficiencies in all
parameters of health care provision.
Israeli’s long occupation has been rampant with
violence, atrocities, and human rights violations
causing significant casualties which often did not
receive appropriate timely medical-surgical
care. 1,4-8
This situation resulted in alarming numbers of
fatalities and morbidities. Many individuals lost
limbs, eyes or other organs, and became
handicapped, which could have been prevented if
there was immediate and appropriate medical and
surgical attention.
Throughout the Israeli occupation, many
community leaders in Palestine, medical
institutions and non-governmental organizations
have raised their voices and appealed for external
help to bridge the serious gaps in Palestine’s
health care and services.
FIMA, represented by Islamic medical
organizations and collaborating NGOs, especially
in Jordan and Egypt, received persistent requests
and projects, calling for help and support in both
areas of specialized patient care, and training for
various medical specializations.
A series of contacts, seminars and conferences
were held over the past 2 decades, that included
medical professionals and educators from inside
FIMA YearBook 2010-2011 100