Al-Makassed Hospital in Jerusalem.
Qatar Red Crescent (QRC) has signed an agreement with the World Health Organisation (WHO) to provide Al-Makassed Islamic Charitable Society Hospital in Jerusalem $500,000 for medicines and medical consumables.
QRC seeks to overcome the severe lack of such essential supplies in the hospital, due to a protracted financial squeeze amid the Israeli crackdown on the Palestinian people and institutions.
Recently, the hospital received more than 300 critical cases referred from Gaza following last year’s war, who were all treated for free. It has also accommodated the injured in the West Bank and Jerusalem clashes as a result of the war on Gaza. Obviously, this additional burden caused an overconsumption and subsequently depletion of many crucial medications and medical consumables.
In partnership with Islamic Development Bank (IDB), QRC is currently conducting a major project to develop the hospital, to enable it to continue its medical and educational services for the Palestinians.
Established in 1968, the 8,000sq m, Aqsa hospital offers cheap medical care for Palestinians at minimal prices to suit the poor and low-income patients, amid the Israeli tight economic blockade. In some cases, the poorest are even served for free.
With a capacity of 250 beds, 70 of which are in the ICU, the hospital is run by 800 medical, technical, and administrative staff. It is the largest and oldest medical facility to serve Jerusalem Arab inhabitants and the comers from the West bank and the Gaza Strip.
The hospital is also a leading Palestinian medical education institution, and it is recognised by the Palestine Medical Council (PMC) as a training centre for resident physicians in nine specialties: obstetrics and gynaecology, paediatrics, internal medicine, general surgery, orthopaedics, cardiac surgery, neurosurgery, anaesthesia, and diagnostic radiology.
