Ahmad Rabaia, Jenin, January 2012

Ahmad Rabaia is a three year old boy from Jenin, the largest town in the north of the West Bank, and the third largest city in the occupied territory.

The only son of a young couple in their twenties, Ahmad has inherited his father’s nystagmus, as well as suffering from hypermetropia, or long-sightedness.

Nystagmus is a condition of involuntary eye movement. Those affected are not normally aware of this movement, but vision can be impaired depending on the severity of the oscillation.

Congenital nystagmus has traditionally been viewed as non-treatable, but medications have been discovered in recent years that show promise in some patients. However, as Ahmad is still only three, when Mr Rabaia brought his son to our Jerusalem Hospital, doctors advocated caution and treated the child’s poor vision with simple spectacles.

29 year old Mr Rabaia is well known at our hospital as a corneal patient. He is unemployed. Mrs Rabaia is 24 years old and in good health. The two are not relatives. The family depends on welfare and receive 750 Israeli Shekels (£126.00) every three months. They are quite poor and cannot readily afford the many treatments that both father and son require.

Using our Patient Relief Fund, the Hospital Group was able to exempt the family from having to pay for Ahmad treatments and to provide his spectacles for free. These improve his ambulatory vision, as well as his long sight, and permit him to lead a relatively normal life.

When leaving the hospital with Ahmad, Mr Rabaia thanked our staff for making it possible for his son to receive the treatment he needed.