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Questions the Foreign Office must answer over barring of doctors from Gaza
• I HAVE just returned from my second unsuccessful attempt to enter Gaza through the Rafah crossing as part of a Palestine International Medical Aid (PIMA) group of doctors. PIMA is a non-profit organisation set up in response to the growing medical needs of Palestinians within the Palestinian Territories as well as within refugee camps outside Palestine.
The mission of a cardiac surgeon and theatre sister from Hammersmith Hospital was to help in the setting up of a much-needed cardiac surgical unit in Gaza. The mission of a senior consultant physician from Bristol was to offer his considerable knowledge and experience in the teaching of junior doctors.
My own particular mission was to deliver much-needed textbooks to medical students at Rafah European Hospital in southern Gaza.
It was also my hope to visit Yibna Refugee Camp, which is supported by Islington Friends of Yibna, of which I am a member
Previous PIMA convoys had found the trips exceptionally moving and inspirational as they were able to bring not only medical aid and expertise but also hope to the beleaguered and persecuted Palestinians and the knowledge that they are not forgotten.
From the beginning of May we travelled every day from Al Arish, where we were staying, to the Rafah border on the Egyptian side. Although we were in daily contact with the British Embassy in Cairo and were assured it had passed on our names to the appropriate Egyptian authorities, Egyptian security at the border claimed not to have received the faxes from the embassy and each day we were denied entry to Gaza.
After a week, it was necessary for me to return to London, but with the assurance that the border would be open on May 16-17, allowing our team to cross into Gaza. It now transpires that once again the PIMA group was denied entry on these days.
The group believes this decision was in the hands of the Egyptian authorities, but they also have no doubt that the British Embassy in Cairo did not help them. This is in contrast to the Irish and US groups, who put huge pressure on their embassies and who were allowed to enter Gaza.
The implication is that the Foreign Office and the British Embassy in Cairo could have done more to expedite entry.
As a consequence, our five British citizens, as well as three Belgians and one Greek citizen, are to go on hunger strike. These comprise three doctors, four aid workers and one nurse.
The assessment by previous PIMA convoys of the medical crisis in Gaza is that there is a lack of essential medical equipment and supplies. In addition, medical staff in Gaza lack sufficient knowledge and training to deal with day-to-day problems, exacerbated by the recent devastating bombardment.
It is a scandal that highly-skilled medical staff from this country, who have offered their services freely to help alleviate the suffering in Gaza, should be denied entry, and this, it would appear, possibly due in part to the unwillingness of the Foreign Office to offer as much help as it could have.
Dr DAVID SHOVE
Gibson Square, N1
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