CEO's visit to Gaza
We cross the Erez checkpoint and enter the Gaza Strip. The scale of devastation is immediately visible.
To our left, an industrial estate has been brutally levelled to the ground. Further ahead, acres of fields – once cultivating vegetables for internal and export consumption – lay barren.
The short journey to our satellite clinic is depressing and disjointed - as if the ruptured space somehow resists comprehension.
It has been more than a year since I was last able to enter Gaza. An ever deteriorating crisis - culminating in the kidnapping of BBC journalist, Alan Johnston - put a cruel ending to what were once regular visits. My being in Gaza this time around is thanks to, and only achievable because of, the efforts of Mr. Richard Makepeace, the British Consul-General in East Jerusalem and a member of St John Eye Hospital’s Board of Trustees.
Gaza City today resembles a ghost town and many people opt to stay indoors. Once bustling streets are strewn with large mounds of rotting litter and garbage. As we pass through the city traffic is scarce. The vehicles that used to dominate the roads have mostly been replaced by donkeys and horses. A petrol station opposite St John’s clinic in turn now looks forlorn, and out of place. It closed long ago, we learn, when Gaza’s fuel supply was discontinued.
Wherever one looks there is evidence of the bitter strife and conflict. Buildings are pock-marked with the wounds of artillery and mortar shells. In four devastating months last year, the number of Gaza households earning less than $1.20 per day rose from 55% to 70%.
Inside the clinic, in stark contrast to the surroundings, we enter a composed, focused environment. Our medical staff are busy, but overjoyed to welcome their visitors. In April 2008 the small team of four doctors and five nurses saw and treated 1,516 patients. I have said it before and say it again – they are a remarkable unit who, against all the odds, remain not only cheerful but so full of hope. I pray the future will be kind to them.
As the day draws to a close we slowly commence the complicated trip back to Jerusalem and the hospital. Our return journey provides a sudden and severe reminder of the reality of life in a war zone. With mortar fire whizzing overhead, the Hospitaller, Mr Anthony Chignell, and I seek safety in an air raid shelter until it’s safe to move again.
St John opened its Gaza Clinic in 1992. It has since become a vital lifeline for our patients. Despite the danger and the immense difficulties faced daily by our staff, the clinic has remained open throughout the recent turbulent past. This is a significant achievement and testament to their bravery. Incredibly, our doctors treated more patients than ever before in 2007. Two years ago the International Centre for Nursing Ethics awarded the clinic’s nursing staff a Human Rights Award for Nursing.
Outside, Gaza’s medical infrastructure is being damaged irrevocably, with patients – most of the population denied travel permits – prevented from seeking treatment elsewhere in Israel or Egypt or Jordan.
There is no other charitable eye care in Gaza. The only alternative to treatment at St John’s is to consult costly private ophthalmic clinics - hopelessly beyond the reach of our patients, who are among the most deprived in the population.
The Eye Hospital is one of only very few emergency relief charities that have managed to sustain - even increase - our activities, trying to keep up with the need. It is vital for the sake of our patients, and also to ensure that some medical infrastructure remains in place, that St John continues to honour our commitment to Gaza.
Our fundraising appeal this year seeks to highlight our desperately needed humanitarian efforts. I wish you a happy reading and hope you will enjoy this special issue of Jerusalem Scene commemorating our Gaza Staff.
CEO, Rod Bull
Royal College of Ophthalmology.
