Doctor in Gaza

By Tzvi Gdat

(Translated by Dr. Israel Shahak from Hadashot, September 30, 1988)

Sounding an ambulance siren in the Gaza Strip, like displaying pictures in an exhibition, is forbidden by statute. Ambulance drivers have more than once been forbidden to sound their sirens, since this could lead to crowds gathering. When they take a seriously injured patient to a hospital inside the Green Line, they are allowed to sound their siren only after they pass Erez Junction.

"In the whole of Gaza there are only seven ambulances," a doctor from one of the city's hospitals tells us, "and most of them were originally used as transport for workers, not patients. The only special equipment which they carry is, in many cases, a spare fire. "

Since the outbreak of the intifadah he has encountered various sorts of casualties, of all ages, from all sorts of weapons, at every possible level of injury. His hands are full. The troops, he says, fire freely, and don't kid yourself that a plastic bullet injury is not severe. What is a plastic bullet? It is a regular bullet without a high muzzle velocity. The five ammunition which is used is fired from an M 16, and is a high velocity bullet which enters the body and continues to spin, destroying the internal organs.

He complains that the army attacks the hospital itself. When casualties arrive, the army surrounds the hospital: Embittered families curse or throw stones. Soldiers arrive immediately, and, he says, sometimes aggressively fire live ammunition into the hospital. He remember instances—they happen all the time—when a short while after a casualty is brought in, soldiers enter the hospital and angrily beat the families waiting in the corridors.

The principal injuries from blows, by the way, are on the right arm, the right shoulder, the head, the knees, the back, and the right leg. It seems to him that the blows are deliberate, that many times there is a definite intention to break the knees.

"Gas? We are cautious. We know about patients who report poisoning, dizziness, breathing difficulties, heart problems. We have no data on the toxicity of the gas. But when the soldiers who fire it wear masks and hurry to get away from the area straight after firing, what does that say to you? Is the gas poisonous or not?"

The capability of the hospitals in Gaza is limited by lack of specialists and equipment. In serious cases, it is necessary to refer the patient to a hospital in Israel. Then it's necessary to contact the intended hospital, to request the specialist, to explain the case, to hear whether there is a bed free. If there is not, then it's necessary to try another hospital. "It has happened," he says, "that I have sat by the phone for a quarter of an hour, while the receiver is again and again slammed down by a secretary or clerk at the other end, as soon as they bear the word 'Gaza.' And the patient beside me is being resuscitated."

What is a plastic bullet? It is a regular bullet without a high muzzle velocity.

Since the start of the infifadah, the number of injured and killed has increased greatly, but not the number of doctors and nurses. Equipment has not been updated. On the contrary, budgetary constraints are now tighter. However, says the same doctor, everything is changing in a more positive way, too.

"Before the intifadah," he says, "I considered leaving this profession. It's a rotten job. Whom did we treat then? Traffic accident victims, people stabbed in domestic arguments, junkies and hashish addicts.

"A problematic, degenerate population treats the doctor as its tool. They don't obey instructions, refuse to vacate the hospital bed, think about their insurance, but not about the doctor. In any case, there were many road accidents, stabbings, and score-settling. Loads. Since the intifadah, that's all changed. People have entered into iron discipline. Instead of six fatal road accidents a day, we barely have one a week. There are no cases at all of domestic stabbings or of drug overdoses.

"The patients and their families are also disciplined. When we ask for blood donors, dozens line up at the hospital entrance. When we ask for silence, you don't even hear a fly. As soon as someone can stand, he asks to go home, even if his body is still black with bruises. People feel that they have to make their contribution to the intifadah, and also because they are scared that something might happen to their families or home in their absence."

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