Al-Quds Hospital resumes open-heart surgeries

Gaza - Ofoq News - Today, Friday, Al-Quds Hospital, affiliated with the Palestinian Red Crescent Society, began performing open-heart surgery for patients in the Gaza Strip, as part of a medical mission carried out by a specialized delegation from the Arab Republic of Egypt headed by Dr. Ihab Al-Sharqawi, Professor of Cardiothoracic Surgery at Al-Qasr Al-Aini Hospital, which will last for two weeks.

Al-Nashfi explained in a statement that the mission comes through the HEAL Palestine Foundation, in coordination with the Palestinian Ministry of Health, with the aim of helping patients awaiting cardiac operations, in light of the acute shortage of medical supplies and the difficulty of accessing specialized services.

Dr. Al-Sharqawi explained that the delegation brought with it a number of medical supplies to help carry out the operations, and aims to perform about 25 to 30 operations during its stay in Al-Quds Hospital, at a rate of two cases per day, according to the available capabilities and availability of the necessary consumables.

For his part, Dr. Anwar Al-Ghurra, Medical Director of Al-Quds Hospital, said that the increasing need for open-heart surgeries emerged through the results of about 1,400 cardiac catheterization operations performed at Al-Quds Hospital, which showed that approximately 155 patients needed open-heart surgeries.

Al-Ghara confirmed that the hospital rehabilitated its damaged equipment during the war, and equipped two operating rooms designated for heart surgery, in addition to an intensive care unit containing five beds and a dormitory section with a capacity of ten beds, to complete the stages of treatment and post-operative care.

He pointed out that the association's management is continuing its efforts and communications to bring in additional medical delegations, allowing more operations to be carried out and meeting the needs of patients awaiting treatment.

In turn, Dr. Saher Abu Ghali, Consultant and Head of the Cardiac Surgery Department at the Palestinian Ministry of Health, stressed that cooperation with the Palestinian Red Crescent Society through Al-Quds Hospital represents an important step towards restoring cardiac surgery and cardiac catheterization services that were severely affected by the siege and war.

He pointed out that the waiting lists included more than 200 patients in need of heart surgery, while some patients died while waiting, others left the Gaza Strip for treatment, and cases reached advanced stages that prevented the possibility of surgery.

In a meeting with a number of patients who were being prepared to perform the first operations, the patients expressed their happiness at starting this medical mission at Al-Quds Hospital, after years of suffering, waiting, and difficulty in obtaining the necessary treatment.

They saw the start of operations as an opportunity to restore hope and get rid of the suffering that affected their lives, while they looked forward to these interventions contributing to improving their health conditions and ending a long journey of pain and waiting.

This is the second medical mission of its kind at Al-Quds Hospital affiliated with the Palestinian Red Crescent Society, after hosting a medical delegation from France at the beginning of this year, which performed a number of open-heart surgeries during its stay in the hospital.