Gower surgeon returns from volunteering in Gaza

Suheal Khan, 60, is a visiting Professor in Limb Reconstruction and the Founder and Director of Mobile International Surgical Teams (MIST, www.1mist.org) the world’s first charity dedicated to Limb Reconstruction. 

He recently worked at Swansea Bay University Health Board for two years helping to establish a Wales Centre for Limb Reconstruction. He lives on the Gower Peninsula with his wife and has recently returned from several short volunteer placements in Gaza, the latest in July at Nasser Hospital in Gaza with Medical Aid for Palestinians (MAP).

 In 2010 he spent almost a year at the same hospital establishing a limb reconstruction unit, and plans to return next year to reestablish that.

He said: ‘I was in Gaza in August 2023, doing an assessment of Orthopaedic services at Al Shifa hospital for the International Red Cross; the plan was to start a training programme in management of open fractures using an Orthoplastic approach. Gaza itself looked vibrant and had changed for the better since my last visit to the Strip in 2011.’

I returned in January 2024, and then July. Gaza has become a death camp now. We talk about the triangle of death – dehydration, famine and disease, disease is spreading everywhere as with the recent outbreak of Polio not seen in Gaza for over 2 decades…this is unfortunately just the start.’

‘My main concern when I arrived at Al Aqsa Hospital was that the intensive care unit which is usually for people who have suffered traumatic injuries was already chock a block with people in comas simply because there’s no insulin to treat diabetes.

‘What people don’t seem to understand is that as well as it being a war zone people still get ill, they still having heart attacks, they’re still having babies and there still a need for renal dialysis. The health system itself is in freefall.

‘When I went there in August 2023, before the start of the war, I was surprised at the lack of orthopaedics surgical kit. I’m flabbergasted how the Gazans have managed with such limited supplies. But the biggest problem is infection. The wards are full, the corridors are full. MIST Foundation, the limb reconstruction charity, has purchased two mobile wards and theatres because we need to increase capacity in a sterile environment. We’re buying the kit and hope to get it into Gaza, but it’s all up the air – we’ll have to see what happens in the next few weeks.

‘The trauma treatment is intermittent – two camps were hit while I was there and it was bedlam. The other problem is that around 60% of the senior doctors are no longer in Gaza – they’ve either left for Egypt, are in prison or have been killed. So, you’ve got medical students and nurses and people who have never seen a tourniquet in the middle of a war zone. It’s not their fault and they are doing the best they can but it’s complete and utter bedlam. I’m literally going through the emergency department picking the patients – this one we can save, that one, no.

‘We’ve organised a primary care mobile clinic because we need to give people vaccinations – there are no GPs, but again we’ll have to see if we can get the vaccinations through.

‘I’m hopefully going back in November and January to work with local surgeons who are running the show – a lot of them we’ve trained up already and we’ll be helping them build up the limb reconstruction unit.

‘Between January and July 2024, the place had deteriorated about 200 to 300% in terms of equipment and staffing. It’s come more or less to a standstill. You have two people and you have to make a decision as to which one you’re going to put into intensive care – it’s as simple as that. That’s the situation and it’s really not one you want to find yourself in.

‘There are simple condition which can’t be treated because of lack of supplies of things like insulin or antibiotics. You’ve got maggots coming out of wounds, in brain tissue, it’s indescribable.

‘It’s the Gazans which make me want to keep going back. When you spend a year there, you get to know them. They’re very stoical, very strong, very forthright.

‘I might be a Muslim but this has got nothing to do with religion, the rest of the guys there aren’t, this is to do with oppression. We’re not politicians, we’re there as humanitarians.

‘The message we want to get across is that people are dying there of very easily treatable diseases. People are having heart attacks and not getting anti coagulants, dying of deep vein thrombosis which is easily treatable. People are dying left right and centre because of lack of basic medical care. It’s very frustrating – you can put a leg back on but you can’t give someone insulin which simply isn’t there.’

About Medical Aid for Palestinians (MAP)

Medical Aid for Palestinians (MAP) works for a future where every Palestinian has access to a comprehensive, effective and locally-led system of healthcare, and the full realisation of their rights to health and dignity.

To achieve this, we work in collaboration with Palestinian communities and trusted local partners to answer a wide range of health and social needs, from providing vital medical aid in emergencies, to supporting the development of better health services for the long term. We also uplift the voices of Palestinians, and campaign for an end to the barriers to health and dignity that come from living through occupation, displacement, discrimination and conflict. www.map.org.uk

For more information or to speak to Nizam or a MAP spokesperson, contact Catherine Cooper on mail@catherinecooper.net or + 33 6 09 03 55 88 or Tessa Pope on tessa.pope@map-uk.org or +44 7444 589241