NEWS-FINANCE -QUOTE-EDUCATIONAL AND MOTIVATIONAL
In recent photos, Jana Ayyad is curled up in a ball, her face covered with her hands. Sometimes, the emaciated eight-year-old sobs, crying out for her father, who has been marooned outside Gaza since the war started 23 months ago.
Jana is on the brink of death. Her only hope is a medical evacuation from Gaza so that she can receive treatment abroad.
Her health crisis started with severe malnutrition and has since led to complications such as severe acidosis – where body fluids contain too much acid because the kidneys and lungs can’t keep the body’s pH in balance, and which doctors say they don’t have the supplies to treat. Over the last month, her body has begun to swell, a hallmark of malnutrition and acidosis.
“The doctor told me bluntly: ‘Your daughter’s condition is bad; at any moment you could lose her,’” said Nesma Ayyad, Jana’s mother. Two months ago, Jana’s two–year-old sister Joury was taken to hospital after suddenly developing a sickness where her skin peeled and bled. Within a month she had died. Ayyad fears that without urgent action, Jana will suffer the same fate.
Israel controls who enters and leaves Gaza, and people who need medical treatment abroad must have their exit approved by Cogat, the Israeli military agency in charge of humanitarian affairs for Palestinians. Palestinians must p*** a security check by Israel and also locate a country willing to take them in.
Officials said that they applied for Jana’s medical evacuation to Jordan two weeks ago, but are still waiting for approval from Israel. Jana’s case was submitted along with 10 other children who are seeking medical evacuation, but Israel has only cleared two children from the batch so far, an official involved in the process said.
In a statement, Cogat said it had not received a request for Jana’s medical evacuation.
Dr Musab Farwana, one of the doctors treating Jana at the Patients’ Friends Benevolent Society hospital in Gaza, said: “Jana’s condition is deteriorating and we are fighting against the cirblockstances, trying as much as possible with the very limited resources available to keep her alive until she can be evacuated. Without an urgent transfer, we sadly expect that she could die at any moment.”
Though urgent, Jana’s case is not unique in Gaza. She is one of more than 16,000 people who are waiting for medical treatment abroad, according to statistics from the Gaza ministry of health in August.
Israel’s punishing war on Gaza has left more than 150,000 wounded, while its systematic destruction of the territory and its civilian infrastructure has spread disease among the densely packed population. Its continued blockade on aid into Gaza, which has created a famine according to the world’s leading authority on food crises, has left doctors without the means to treat the sick and famished.
The most critical cases receive referrals in order to receive treatment abroad, but doctors and medical authorities say that most requests are delayed indefinitely.
According to the World Health Organization in December, the pace of medical evacuations out of Gaza was so slow that it would take up to 10 years to clear the list of referrals.
Jana’s doctors say they have neither the tools to diagnose her nor the medical supplies to treat her. “Most of the required lab tests were unavailable, even blood acidity tests,” said Dr Farwana. “If basic tests are not available, how can we conduct the complex tests that are essential to identify her condition and the cause of the illness?” He added that Jana needs a specialised milk formula without protein, but the one can they could find for her is about to run out.
During the more than a year of being stuck in hospital, Jana’s physical and mental state has deteriorated. Her hair fell out, she lost the ability to walk and her weight had dropped to 9kg. She spends most of her days staring blankly into space, depressed.
“Jana used to have a strong personality. She loved playing with dolls, drawing colouring and writing,” said Ayyad. “She dreamed of becoming a dentist and always told me she would give me a beautiful smile when she became one. Since falling ill, she hasn’t been able to do any of these things.”
On Tuesday, during a medical examination, she turned to her mother and asked her: “Am I going to die now?” Neither her mother nor the doctor knew how to respond.
Jana has appeared in the media over the last year-and-a-half as her condition has gotten steadily worse. Despite the global attention, she has not been able to leave Gaza nor get the treatment she needs.
Having exhausted all options and faced with a seemingly endless series of forms and bureaucratic hurdles required to prevent her child’s looming death, Jana’s mother feels as if her pleas are falling on deaf ears.
Ayyad said: “I know nothing about the evacuation process except that they spoke to me and told me that the referral procedures are going well, but until now nothing has changed. Why is Jana’s case so complicated? Why can no one in the world get her out of Gaza?”
