Witness Association for Human Rights

Report


Who is the responsible about the deterioration of health conditions in the Palestinian Red Crescent Hospitals in Lebanon, Especially at Haifa Hospital in Burj Al Barajenih Camp.

Most of the Red Crescent hospitals in Lebanon suffer greatly from many difficulties and complicated problems hat affect its performance and duties especially those exist inside the Palestinian camps .These problems caused a deep gap between the management of these hospitals and their worker on one hand and the Palestinian faction and the inhabitants from the other side. These crises put the Palestinian refugees in front of many obsessions that really threaten their health and life. These crises raise many logical questions: Who is the responsible about this deterioration, and how to deal and resolve this internal Crisis? Witness Association has received many complaints about these issues which basically concentrate inside Burj Al Barajenih camp. During a field round inside the camp that included Haifa hospital, the popular committee and many other people, it was obvious that there are many real problems facing the refugees inside the camp which represented the absence of the political reference that is capable of the daily challenges and the current condition of Haifa Hospital that witness dramatical declining for many reasons, particularly on the health level.

The opinion of Haifa Hospital management

The Director of Haifa Hospital , Dr. Awni Saad talks about the crisis and says : "Haifa Hospital witnessing a real crisis which caused by the interruption of the public electricity in the camp for many days which reflected negatively on the electricity of the hospital .As a result of this situations ,many people who live around the hospital as well as some powerful forces and political faction who violated against the hospital’s generators and its private electricity by isolating the wires behind the air conditions , the elevator and other devices and suspended their electric lines across the ceilings , they stole large quantities that exceeded the capacity of the generators . The director said that he found a line of 8 mm in diameter that able to enlighten a whole neighborhood.
Dr. Saad adds: “All these violated acts led the increasing loads on the generators and damaged them one after the other, and remained only one medium size generator that feeds only the operating and emergency rooms. In spite of that ,gloomy situation, the same forces threatened the employees and the guards ,and they took off the locks and stole from the remaining lines .At that time there were two dead bodies inside the refrigerators of the hospitals . These bodies related to a Palestinian citizen whose name is Omar Ahmad Annan from Shatila Camp and the other from Al Burj Camp ,whom died on august -14-2009 and to be buried when their relatives arrive from traveling .These bodies has rotted and decomposed ,so their relatives could not able to bath them, but they had been obliged to buried them directly .Dr. awni adds that he had addressed all the Palestinian factions and the popular and security committees , but unfortunately their response was very limited . He invited them for a meeting that would be held on august 14,2009 and put them in front of their responsibilities and inform them about the difficulties and obstacles that facing the hospitals , they promised him that they should take their role and remove all the wires and stop all the violation acts against the hospital next Monday .But unfortunately nothing had actually done , and the last generator also had damaged , so the hospital was forced to protest and announced about a strike and closed the hospital and did not receive except the emergency cases only ,since the hospital was still working on a small movable generator . After these protesting procedure, all the Palestinian factions and committees were embarrassed and they have removed all the violations and return the situation to its normal case after the hospital had paid large sum of money to repair the generators.
Regarding to the trust crisis with Haifa hospital, Dr. Awni says:” All the doctors, nurses and the workers practicing their obligations, but so scared, since there is a wrong scattered culture that did not respect the sanctity of the doctors and other medical staff. These conditions lead to frustration among the medical staff and adversely affect their performance. Moreover there is another wrong culture spread among the refugees that any patient enter the red crescent hospital may be exposed to many fatal medical errors .It is true that some errors may occur ,but this is due to the lack of advanced equipments as scanner , magnetic or audio images that help the doctors to diagnose and discover the disease like the private hospitals in Lebanon , in addition to the presence of some cases that had been treated in private hospitals ,and there is no hope to be healed , so their kin bring them to Haifa hospital to spend their remaining days in the hospital and die inside it ,so many predominant rumors that a medical mistake lead to his death ".
Dr. Saad complains of the lack of respect for the medical staff from the resident of the camp in spite that the management exerts great efforts to improve the situation by all possible means.

The Opinion of the Popular Committee in Burj Al Barajenih Camp:-
Upon our inquiry from the members of the popular committee about the problems facing the hospital and the lack of serious interactions to solve the problem of electricity inside the hospital. Said abuo Walid El Einain , the head of the popular committee inside Burj al Barajneh camp that the cause of this problem is the complicity of some hospital staff with some influential persons and provided them with electricity through the hidden joint behind the air condition in a secrete way . This phenomenon has encouraged the neighbors and other, to dare and violated against the hospital’s electricity, that damaged the generators one after the other. Mr. Abuo El Einain added that they are the most people who interest greatly on the hospital and it performance, but this also required from the management of the hospital to be at the same level of awareness. The corruptions inside the hospital is the result of many fatal medical errors as the case of a young man from Ayuoub family who had submitted to un successful surgical operation that decrease his weight from 45 kg to 18 kg, So the popular committee obliged to intervene and securing treatment for him in Rafik Al Hariri hospital and save his life.
Mr. Abuo El Einain added that the palestinian liberation organization is the responsible for the deteriorating condition in the palestine red crescent hospitals , through its failure to support or improve or control its performance . in addition that the major responsibility lies on the UNRWA agency , which has neglected the health situation of the Palestinian refugees in Lebanon , and has contracted with the Red Crescent hospital that lack for necessary medical equipment , more over to inability to receive all the treatment cases . Many of the patients have been refused to be treated in spite of their normal cases, and they are easily treated in other private hospitals such as the case of children swallowing small coins.
The popular committee in Burj Al Barajenih camp condemns all the violation acts that harms this humanitarian institution and will n,t hesticate to support and provide it . The committee on the other hand hopes from the management of the hospital to deal with people fairly without discrimination, because of political affiliation and to take in consideration the social and economic condition of most people
.
Another point of view:
Through our survey the insiders view on the reality of the health situation inside the hospital. Mr. Rajab Taha ,the director of Al Reaaya pharmacy in the camp said :" the hospital has been suffering from neglect for along period of time .It lacks a lot of necessary equipments ,as photography , heart and brain planning and kidneys dialysis . Moreover the spread of domination and violation culture on the property of the hospital from those influential powers and members, so much so that one of them convert the water pipe of the hospital to his home. Mr. Rajab Taha inquires that if the Red Crescent is on of the vital institutions of the Palestinian liberation organization, why this dangerous neglect of it?

The View of Witness Human Rights:
We, in the Witness Association for Human Rights call all the parties to take their responsibilities particularly the Palestinian Liberation Organization and the UNRWA agency to work seriously in order to find serious solutions of the health problems that are facing all the Palestinian refugees in Lebanon , and the association recommends the following :-
First : The absence of the general political references make the Palestinian societies in all specificity including the health situation more expose to erosion and risks and expose the Palestinian interests to the real danger .
Second: It should be work to provide the Palestinian Red Crescent hospitals with advanced equipments in addition to improve the efficiency of the doctors and nurses that enable them to perform their roles without errors.
Third: It is necessary to secure all the rights of the workers in the hospitals of the Palestinian Red Crescent and to activate the management control.
Fourth: It is necessary to secure adequate protection of these hospitals and their staff to enable them to perform their humanitarian role with efficiency and respect.



Beirut: 2009/1/1