In the summer of this year IDEALS was alerted by Dr Judith Darmandy and Sally Fitzharris to the plight of three young Gaza amputees. Although they had undergone some rehabilitation treatment in Israel they were now back in Gaza and their follow up treatment is now very uncertain.
IDEALS initial request was to equip these unfortunate youngsters with wheelchairs but very soon it became apparent that the situation in Gaza had resulted in a large number of disabled individuals who had to manage without proper rehabilitation or equipment. We were put in contact with Professor Colin Green from Northwick Park University Hospital who has much experience of establishing training and research programmes in Gaza and as a result we were introduced to the organisation Medical Aid for Palestine (MAP). Two meetings have now taken place and our future programme for Gaza will involve establishing Primary Trauma Care in the area for medical and nursing personnel and paramedics in outlying parts of Gaza that are often "cut off" form immediate specialist surgical care at times of major conflict. In addition we will be investigating the facilities for rehabilitation of severely injured patients to see if IDEALS can develop assistance in this field.
A review visit, completely financed by IDEALS, will take place in January 2008 and involve Project Co-ordinator Dr Andy Ferguson and the Trustees Sir Terence English, Dr Eamon McCoy and John Beavis. In the mean time we stand by our original promise to assist with wheel chairs and other equipment for the injured boys first shown to us and will work in collaboration with MAP in this matter
Tue 09 Oct 2007