A delegation of 30 doctors, nurses and graduate nursing students from the Palestinian Authority (PA) visited the Rambam Health Care Campus in Haifa, Israel last week to participate in a day-long seminar on treating children’s oncological diseases.

The participants from Bethlehem, Ramallah, Jenin, Hebron and other West Bank cities toured the Meyer Children’s Hospital’s Department of Oncological Hematology under the direction of Prof Miriam Ben-Arush, and attended lectures.

According to Ben-Arush, medical care for sick children at PA hospitals is not at the same level as that in Israel.

Yazed Falah, who coordinates between the PA and Rambam, said that the seminar was part of the ongoing cooperation between the two. “We initiate activities and seminars like this all the time because we are obligated, on a human level, to help sick people regardless of politics.”

Dr Sumia Saij, instructor at Al-Kuds University in Tubas, spoke about the reality in PA hospitals: “In many cases, we don’t have the qualifications, the budget or the tools to give medical care to patients who arrive at the hospital.”

Every day, Rambam treats a variety of patients from the PA, including some 50 children who come weekly for oncological and hematological treatments.