In this episode Nicole and Tom interview Dr. Ghassan Hamdan of Palestinian Medical Relief Society (PMRS). PMRS is a grassroots NGO that's provided a much needed response to the medical crises caused by the occupation. PMRS' workers, like other Palestinian medical workers, are constantly targeted by the occupation forces. On top of providing medical care. PMRS has trained up thousands of people, building resilience to the occupation's attacks on the Palestinian people.
Organisations like PMRS are a vital part of remaining steadfast against Israel's colonisation policies. Building health autonomy is a key part of building resistance to the occupation.
Links:
Supported by
Shoal Collective
Hey, welcome to international solidarity
Dr Ghassan Hamdan:movement podcast. [Arabic]
Tom:Hey, and welcome to Episode Eight of the International
Tom:Solidarity Movement Podcast. My name is Tom and in this episode
Tom:we interview Dr. Ghassam Hamdan of Palestinian Medical Relief
Tom:Services. PMRS is a grassroots NGO that's provided a much
Tom:needed response to the medical crises caused by the occupation.
Tom:PMRS’s workers like other Palestinian medical workers, are
Tom:constantly targeted by the occupation forces. On top of
Tom:providing medical care, PMRS has trained up thousands of people,
Tom:building resilience to the occupations attacks on the
Tom:Palestinian people. Organisations like PMRS are a
Tom:vital part of remaining steadfast against Israel's
Tom:colonisation policies. Building health autonomy is a key part of
Tom:building resistance to the occupation. And now over to
Tom:Ghassam and Nicole for our interview.
Nicole:Hello, thank you so much for making time for us today.
Nicole:Please, can you introduce yourself?
Dr Ghassan Hamdan:Welcome, I'm happy to meet you to have you
Dr Ghassan Hamdan:here in Nablus first. My name is Ghassam Hamdan. I'm a doctor,
Dr Ghassan Hamdan:and I'm the Director of Medical Relief Society in Nablus region.
Dr Ghassan Hamdan:Medical Relief Society, it's one of the biggest non governmental
Dr Ghassan Hamdan:organisations in West Bank and Gaza Strip. And it was
Dr Ghassan Hamdan:established in 1979 by different medical personnel, doctors,
Dr Ghassan Hamdan:nurses, social workers, lab technicians. And the association
Dr Ghassan Hamdan:began as a doctor who was interested to provide medical
Dr Ghassan Hamdan:services for the people in the rural and difficult areas, the
Dr Ghassan Hamdan:area where we didn't have medical services for the people.
Dr Ghassan Hamdan:And you know, in that time, all the countries were fall[en]
Dr Ghassan Hamdan:under Israeli occupation. And the also the medical services
Dr Ghassan Hamdan:also was controlled by soldiers, where they are not interested to
Dr Ghassan Hamdan:provide medical services for the people, especially in rural and
Dr Ghassan Hamdan:remote areas. Thinking by that, that they can make pressure on
Dr Ghassan Hamdan:the people to migrate from their houses, their villages, their
Dr Ghassan Hamdan:places. And by that they can implement the policy of transfer
Dr Ghassan Hamdan:policy - where they are trying to push the people by themselves
Dr Ghassan Hamdan:to go out from their country to go out from other countries
Dr Ghassan Hamdan:where they can find better situations. Especially for their
Dr Ghassan Hamdan:children for their families, and medical things. The doctors
Dr Ghassan Hamdan:who think to establish medical archives and organisation
Dr Ghassan Hamdan:medical services, it's kind of building health infrastructure
Dr Ghassan Hamdan:for Palestinians where we can make services for the people and
Dr Ghassan Hamdan:relate it to their needs. And in health condition. After that, of
Dr Ghassan Hamdan:course, the medical relief was growing and work in different
Dr Ghassan Hamdan:areas, different regions in the West Bank and Gaza Strip. And
Dr Ghassan Hamdan:now, we run as a medical relief more than 43 Medical Primary
Dr Ghassan Hamdan:Health Care Centres. Big primary health care centres - and we
Dr Ghassan Hamdan:provide more than 14 programmes. Like woman health programme,
Dr Ghassan Hamdan:school health programme, first aid programme, emergency
Dr Ghassan Hamdan:programme, chronic diseases programme - different programmes
Dr Ghassan Hamdan:which [are] related to the needs of the people and the
Dr Ghassan Hamdan:Palestinian community. Of course, during our work. What I
Dr Ghassan Hamdan:want to explain that health is affected by occupation, health
Dr Ghassan Hamdan:is affected by politics and the condition which [is] caused by
Dr Ghassan Hamdan:Israeli occupation. So this is about medical relief, and we're
Dr Ghassan Hamdan:still working as health provider, but we based our work
Dr Ghassan Hamdan:on primary health care.
Nicole:Amazing and you said about health being affected by
Nicole:the occupation? How do you see this in your work?
Nicole:So what I want to explain by this, that we can't here
Nicole:implement our strategy in healthcare. Why? Because under
Nicole:occupation, there is no sustainability. So if you want
Nicole:to implement your strategy on healthcare, you need
Nicole:sustainability. You need to have own conditions, conditions in
Nicole:which you can implement your strategy. For example, if you
Nicole:want to improve the health condition for the people in
Nicole:chronic diseases, which is very difficult in Palestine - it's
Nicole:the highest percentage in the Middle East - because of the
Nicole:stress, the political situation, economic situation, social
Nicole:situation. So we face many people who are suffering of
Nicole:hyper tensions, heart diseases, heart attacks, and diabetes
Nicole:mellitus. You know, all the these diseases [are] affected by
Nicole:your style of life and your condition - especially
Nicole:economically and politically, socially. We can’t take care
Nicole:of these people while we have emergency situation. Explaining
Nicole:that, for example, one month ago Nablus area - one and a half
Nicole:months ago - Nablus area was completely under siege. So
Nicole:during the siege, Israel had closed all exits to the city.
Nicole:Totally. So the people, they can't go out, and they can't
Nicole:come into the city. And the main medical and health services
Nicole:here, especially hospitals - it's in the city only. We don't
Nicole:have in the rural and remote areas, the hospitals, full good
Nicole:and full primary health care centres where you can get good
Nicole:and every, all medical services. So other things that the medical
Nicole:personnel, doctors, nurses, lab technicians, different people
Nicole:are going out from the city to the rural areas, or sometimes
Nicole:coming from the rural areas to the city. It's not everyone
Nicole:working in the city, and not everyone working in the village.
Nicole:So this restricted the movement of the medical team and medical
Nicole:people. And we faced that we couldn't, for example, many
Nicole:doctors, they couldn't go to the primary healthcare centres where
Nicole:they are working; because of the closure, because of the
Nicole:checkpoints, because of the soldiers, where they prevent the
Nicole:people to go out from the city to the villages and from the
Nicole:villages to the city. Other things; the people who need to
Nicole:be hospitalised - they can't come to the hospitals. And we
Nicole:face some conditions like some pregnant ladies from Beit Furiq
Nicole:town - it's near Nablus not far from here, just seven / eight
Nicole:kilometres. Normally it takes the way from Bet F’riq to
Nicole:Nablus. Normally, it takes 10 minutes. But when we had the
Nicole:closure, the way, it takes six, seven hours because of the
Nicole:checkpoints. And this lady she gave birth at the checkpoint,
Nicole:where she [was] prevent[ed from] cross the checkpoints because of
Nicole:the closure. And because of the soldiers. Like this case, we
Nicole:have it all the time. So you can see that we can't improve our
Nicole:health situation and our health system when we have emergency,
Nicole:because everything is going to the emergency. During that we
Nicole:have for example clashes with the soldiers at the checkpoints,
Nicole:at the roads - not only with the soldiers, with the settlers also
Nicole:who are attacking the people. Especially in Nablus area. Many
Nicole:places were attacked by settlers. Stores, cars, people.
Nicole:And if you heard about the two guys, [who were] killed just
Nicole:three, four days ago, near Nablus by car, it was accident
Nicole:by car, the settler went to where they stopped their cars in
Nicole:the way of the road. And [the settler] attacked them with his
Nicole:car and he killed [the] two people. So like this case, also
Nicole:we have all the time. So our work is going on emergency as
Nicole:doctors and as health workers. We don't take care of other
Nicole:things where we have to care. For example, to children, women,
Nicole:chronic diseased people. We have a big problem with the kidney
Nicole:dialysis people. For example, in Nablus city area, we have more
Nicole:than 470 people who need dialysis every day. And these
Nicole:people are now [including] 190 people living outside of the
Nicole:city. So they need to come to the hospital because we have
Nicole:only one center to make dialysis. When we had the
Nicole:checkpoint and closure they can't come. So this causes
Nicole:different kinds of complications. And they face a
Nicole:very hard health condition. So like, that, this is what I mean
Nicole:that we can't have sustainability in healthcare and
Nicole:we can't improve our healthcare system. For that what we are
Nicole:trying to do is to create different activities related to
Nicole:this condition. To [the] condition of closure, condition
Nicole:of the political situation, which is very hard and very
Nicole:difficult. and very difficult.
Nicole:And in terms of resources going to the emergency
Nicole:situation. I read on your website, and I know - you know -
Nicole:websites can sometimes be a bit out of date and things. But that
Nicole:you trained 180,000 people in first aid skills. Can you say a
Nicole:bit about why this was necessary and how you made it happen?
Dr Ghassan Hamdan:Yes. So I remember in 1996 when we had
Dr Ghassan Hamdan:attacks on the mosque in al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem by Shimon
Dr Ghassan Hamdan:[Peres], if you remember… He was the Prime Minister of Israel, he
Dr Ghassan Hamdan:[has] died now. He go there to the mosque. And you know, this
Dr Ghassan Hamdan:is a sensitive issue and it's very sensitive issue for the
Dr Ghassan Hamdan:Muslims, for the people, the Palestinian people. So he go
Dr Ghassan Hamdan:there, he went there with settlers - hundreds of settlers
Dr Ghassan Hamdan:- and there was a kind of Intifada, yani, people they
Dr Ghassan Hamdan:refused these things. And we had a lot of - it's not happening
Dr Ghassan Hamdan:only in Jerusalem, but it happens also everywhere, in all
Dr Ghassan Hamdan:regions. Also in Nablus area. We had hundreds of injured people.
Dr Ghassan Hamdan:These injured people, they didn't find good help from the
Dr Ghassan Hamdan:local medical people, because we don't have enough resources for
Dr Ghassan Hamdan:that. We don't have enough medical people. We don't have
Dr Ghassan Hamdan:ambulances enough. So there was a lot of complications. And the
Dr Ghassan Hamdan:handicapped people increased from two percentage among the
Dr Ghassan Hamdan:community, to four, five percent. Because the people who
Dr Ghassan Hamdan:are related to these injured people was doing bad things for
Dr Ghassan Hamdan:them. When they evacuated them, they evacuated them from the
Dr Ghassan Hamdan:field in the wrong way. And this cause different complications.
Dr Ghassan Hamdan:So we think that we should have people who are trained on first
Dr Ghassan Hamdan:aid, especially young girls and boys. And we have, we created
Dr Ghassan Hamdan:this program in Nablus area, we began this in Nablus area -
Dr Ghassan Hamdan:where we began training different groups of young
Dr Ghassan Hamdan:people, boys and girls, from the schools, from the youth centers,
Dr Ghassan Hamdan:different with working with different associations. We
Dr Ghassan Hamdan:trained hundreds of people, in that time, on first aid. So we
Dr Ghassan Hamdan:prepared ourself, and we increased this our way where we
Dr Ghassan Hamdan:expand this work everywhere in the West Bank and Gaza Strip,
Dr Ghassan Hamdan:not only in Nablus area, but the work began in Nablus – here, in
Dr Ghassan Hamdan:this place. So, in 2000, when we have the Second Intifada we
Dr Ghassan Hamdan:had thousands of people who are trained in first aid. Young boys
Dr Ghassan Hamdan:and girls. While the Intifada began, they were working with us
Dr Ghassan Hamdan:as volunteers in the field. So with these volunteers, we could
Dr Ghassan Hamdan:do quality health work, dealing with the injured people in the
Dr Ghassan Hamdan:field. By that we were, this way, we help ourselves first, as
Dr Ghassan Hamdan:the medical relief and medical people. And we help the peoples
Dr Ghassan Hamdan:who are facing the soldiers, the attacks from the settlers. Who
Dr Ghassan Hamdan:are the people who are injured, who are evacuated from the field
Dr Ghassan Hamdan:in good way, and the right way, without complications. And by
Dr Ghassan Hamdan:that, we believe that we're only with volunteers, we can do a
Dr Ghassan Hamdan:good work. So for that we have 1000s of people who are trained
Dr Ghassan Hamdan:now and we continue this work until this moment, of course.
Dr Ghassan Hamdan:And we'll continue it in the future. Not only because we are
Dr Ghassan Hamdan:under occupation, but because we think that this is important for
Dr Ghassan Hamdan:how we can educate the community and we can have a good community
Dr Ghassan Hamdan:which is educated, on first aid and health things. In 2000 and
Dr Ghassan Hamdan:2008. Especially Nablus area, if you heard, it was full[y] under
Dr Ghassan Hamdan:siege, and the condition, political condition was very
Dr Ghassan Hamdan:difficult and hard. When in 2002 Israel decided to reoccupy the
Dr Ghassan Hamdan:cities, you know, Oslo agreement made [zones] ABC, and the A is
Dr Ghassan Hamdan:under control of Palestinians, B was mixed, C is fully under
Dr Ghassan Hamdan:Israeli control. But in 2002, everywhere is under Israeli
Dr Ghassan Hamdan:control. So that time for example, in Nablus area, Nablus
Dr Ghassan Hamdan:city was divided for eight parts by tanks. They use the Merkava
Dr Ghassan Hamdan:tanks, which is very huge and very powerful. And they
Dr Ghassan Hamdan:separated this part at the other part inside the city of Nablus.
Dr Ghassan Hamdan:And they made trenches, and road blockade by [blocks and] stones.
Dr Ghassan Hamdan:So how we could help the people? The people - they need food,
Dr Ghassan Hamdan:they need water, they need medicine, they need - the
Dr Ghassan Hamdan:children need milk. Sometimes electricity was cut because they
Dr Ghassan Hamdan:destroy[ed] the infrastructure everywhere. So we have shortage
Dr Ghassan Hamdan:of water, we have shortage of electricity, everything. So by
Dr Ghassan Hamdan:these volunteers who are working well with us, and we had in that
Dr Ghassan Hamdan:time Nablus area, I remember in Nablus city, more than 600
Dr Ghassan Hamdan:volunteers. Who are with uniform and vest. And they are young
Dr Ghassan Hamdan:people, and they have good energy, we divide them in, in
Dr Ghassan Hamdan:the city. And we receive calls, this family needs milk for their
Dr Ghassan Hamdan:children, this family, they need medicine for chronic[ally]
Dr Ghassan Hamdan:disease[d] people, that family, they need water - drinking
Dr Ghassan Hamdan:water. So we had centers, and where we can distribute all
Dr Ghassan Hamdan:these things, by using these volunteers. They go there, they
Dr Ghassan Hamdan:face very difficult conditions, some of them there was arrested,
Dr Ghassan Hamdan:many of them there was beaten by soldiers. Some of them, they
Dr Ghassan Hamdan:[were] prevent[ed to] cross the, from this part to another part,
Dr Ghassan Hamdan:by of course, the soldiers. So with this difficult time. But we
Dr Ghassan Hamdan:could, because we have the energy, we need this work, to do
Dr Ghassan Hamdan:it. By that so we could help many people, we could help the
Dr Ghassan Hamdan:families who are under occupation and war. And that
Dr Ghassan Hamdan:time, I want to tell you that the buildings was occupied by
Dr Ghassan Hamdan:soldiers also. So it's not only in the street, they are inside
Dr Ghassan Hamdan:the buildings. In big buildings, they put all these people's
Dr Ghassan Hamdan:family in one flat, and the soldiers they occupied the other
Dr Ghassan Hamdan:roofs and flats. So this is why when I talk about it, it's easy
Dr Ghassan Hamdan:to talk about it now. But in that time, when you do the work,
Dr Ghassan Hamdan:it was very hard and difficult under high, very, very high
Dr Ghassan Hamdan:risk. But we got it and we do a very good work. And this [has]
give[n] us an experience:how to deal with the emergency
give[n] us an experience:situation and the difficult situation. So by training the
give[n] us an experience:medical people and the first aid people, we have big army from,
give[n] us an experience:by, volunteers who are helping us in the difficult time[s]. And
give[n] us an experience:we are prepared to do this by our own resources. We don't have
give[n] us an experience:enough money, of course, but we have army of volunteers who
give[n] us an experience:[are] first aid [trained] people who are helping us with doing
give[n] us an experience:our services.
Dr Ghassan Hamdan:So, yes, medical relief is a created
Dr Ghassan Hamdan:model and design by - in this work. So we create the model of
Dr Ghassan Hamdan:primary, for example, first aid program, which I talked about
Dr Ghassan Hamdan:it. We create the mobile clinics. With mobile clinic, in
Dr Ghassan Hamdan:the time of closure is going to the people to provide medical
Dr Ghassan Hamdan:services. We are not waiting the people to come to the primary
Dr Ghassan Hamdan:health care centers. We go there. Because sometimes the
Dr Ghassan Hamdan:Israelis are imposing curfews, on the people. So the people,
Dr Ghassan Hamdan:they can't go out from their houses, they can't go out from
Dr Ghassan Hamdan:their towns or villages. So we go there with the mobile clinic.
Dr Ghassan Hamdan:[In the] mobile clinic, we have physician, we have lab
Dr Ghassan Hamdan:technician, we have women’s health doctor, and nurses and
Dr Ghassan Hamdan:pharmacy - portable pharmacy - medicines. We go there by our
Dr Ghassan Hamdan:cars. And we declare about it by the most - we declare about the
Dr Ghassan Hamdan:medical day and the people can come to small buildings or
Dr Ghassan Hamdan:municipalities or local communities, where we have
Dr Ghassan Hamdan:contacts with them. And we take these buildings, and we provide
Dr Ghassan Hamdan:medical services for the people. So we create some models, which
Dr Ghassan Hamdan:will be related to our situation and condition. There are some
Dr Ghassan Hamdan:other medical associations, they go there with other models, and
Dr Ghassan Hamdan:they do it - which is very important for us. Because we
Dr Ghassan Hamdan:can't cover everywhere. So we need to be, yani, cooperating
Dr Ghassan Hamdan:with other organizations and communities. Red Cross and Red
Dr Ghassan Hamdan:Crescent. We have a problem with them. Because they are following
Dr Ghassan Hamdan:some kind of international law. For example, when you have
Dr Ghassan Hamdan:clashes – risk place, risk area - it's not allowed [for] you to
Dr Ghassan Hamdan:go there. So you have to wait where, when the condition will
Dr Ghassan Hamdan:be good, and you can go there to take and to evacuate the people
Dr Ghassan Hamdan:from here. This is with… is not, yani, is not related to our
Dr Ghassan Hamdan:condition. Because we have clashes, we have emergency and
Dr Ghassan Hamdan:we have risky areas. The people there need your help. So we go
Dr Ghassan Hamdan:there in risky area and we got this risk. And we do our duty
Dr Ghassan Hamdan:and our work with the people who needs us. So we are not waiting
Dr Ghassan Hamdan:that the Israelis will allow us to go there. Because if we will
Dr Ghassan Hamdan:wait [for] them and this happens different times... We can't help
Dr Ghassan Hamdan:the people. And we have many hundreds of young people who
Dr Ghassan Hamdan:were killed and died because Israel didn't allow the medical
Dr Ghassan Hamdan:people and ambulances to evacuate them from the field
Dr Ghassan Hamdan:where they were injured. They wait with them until the
Dr Ghassan Hamdan:bleeding is finished and the person was fully dead. You can’t
Dr Ghassan Hamdan:help them you can’t do anything. And personally I got many times
Dr Ghassan Hamdan:injured, injury, because I go there in those areas. And this
Dr Ghassan Hamdan:is not only myself, also our volunteers, our medical people,
Dr Ghassan Hamdan:the ambulances which we run is doing this duty all the time. We
Dr Ghassan Hamdan:have many people who still working with us. And they've got
Dr Ghassan Hamdan:injured during their work, during
Nicole:How was it during the pandemic? Like I know it's still
Nicole:happening, but yeah, how was your experiences here with
Nicole:Covid-19?
Dr Ghassan Hamdan:We have a good experience, and we have a
Dr Ghassan Hamdan:good experience with epidemics in general. Because in 2002, I
Dr Ghassan Hamdan:remember 2003. When we had the closure and the Israelis they
Dr Ghassan Hamdan:destroyed the infrastructure, especially the pipes, the water
Dr Ghassan Hamdan:network, or the pipes. The water, drinking water, clean
Dr Ghassan Hamdan:water mixed with the sewage water. And we had a big problem
Dr Ghassan Hamdan:in three or four villages around Nablus... [inaudible] it's not
Dr Ghassan Hamdan:far from here. Where the people, they have Hepatitis A - all of
Dr Ghassan Hamdan:them. So, we help them by stopping the using their dirty
Dr Ghassan Hamdan:water, which was mixed with sewage water, and we got the
Dr Ghassan Hamdan:clean water for them, and we do our medical services for them.
Dr Ghassan Hamdan:Treating these people from the epidemics. Now in Covid
Dr Ghassan Hamdan:epidemics. Of course, the resources what we have is very
Dr Ghassan Hamdan:limited. And the vaccine we got it too late. Israel, they got
Dr Ghassan Hamdan:[it as] the first country in the world, Israelis and when they
Dr Ghassan Hamdan:want well, they had pressure from the international
Dr Ghassan Hamdan:community. They decided to give the Palestinian Authority some
Dr Ghassan Hamdan:of this vaccine and they give them the vaccine which was
Dr Ghassan Hamdan:expired. This is - this was declared in the media, and
Dr Ghassan Hamdan:different. So we didn't use it. But when we got the vaccine -
Dr Ghassan Hamdan:before getting the vaccine. So all measures to make prevention,
Dr Ghassan Hamdan:and to isolate the people who were infected, and we create
Dr Ghassan Hamdan:some hospitals for Covid - which was not created because our
Dr Ghassan Hamdan:hospitals is not prepared for these epidemics. So, we have
Dr Ghassan Hamdan:some buildings especially for Covid epidemics. And personnel
Dr Ghassan Hamdan:we trained them on dealing with the people who are infected. And
Dr Ghassan Hamdan:by that, we [encountered] this epidemic, and, of course, many
Dr Ghassan Hamdan:people died. We have, I don't know that number, but we have we
Dr Ghassan Hamdan:have more than hundreds of the people who have died because of
Dr Ghassan Hamdan:Covid-19. But we dealt [with] it and we provide the health
Dr Ghassan Hamdan:lectures, educations for the schools, for the women in
Dr Ghassan Hamdan:different associations, in the rural areas, in the city -
Dr Ghassan Hamdan:everywhere. So we do our best to educate the people how to deal
Dr Ghassan Hamdan:with Covid-19.
Nicole:Amazing. And just s last question, like, yeah, I saw on
Nicole:your website, again, that you have the like a kind of
Nicole:psychosocial and like counseling program. Obviously, like, I've
Nicole:read, like some critiques of things like PTSD - Post
Nicole:Traumatic Stress Disorder - because in a lot of contexts,
Nicole:like, there isn't a “post”, like things haven't finished. People
Nicole:are still living in very like kind of ongoing traumatic
Nicole:situations from say, violence and from living under
Nicole:occupation. I just wondered like, what your approach is to
Nicole:this kind of, like, emotional health of the people.
Dr Ghassan Hamdan:You know, I remember from also to 2002 until
Dr Ghassan Hamdan:2008, what we do, according to these things. The people in the
Dr Ghassan Hamdan:old city of Nablus, this, the old city of Nablus totally was
Dr Ghassan Hamdan:under attacks and siege by Israeli soldiers. So all the
Dr Ghassan Hamdan:families who are living there, of course, everywhere, but
Dr Ghassan Hamdan:especially in this area. Families, woman's children, old
Dr Ghassan Hamdan:people, sick people, young people, all of them were under
Dr Ghassan Hamdan:siege and curfews. They can't go out from houses, they are
Dr Ghassan Hamdan:attack[ed] by bombs. And we had a full family which was killed,
Dr Ghassan Hamdan:the Shubi family. When they bombed the buildings by F-16
Dr Ghassan Hamdan:plane with rockets. And eight people from these - children and
Dr Ghassan Hamdan:father, mother were killed. And we got them from the, from the
Dr Ghassan Hamdan:houses which was destroyed on them. Other things this
Dr Ghassan Hamdan:situation is cause trauma for the children, especially for the
Dr Ghassan Hamdan:children. So what we do with volunteers, again. We go there,
Dr Ghassan Hamdan:and we try to take, to get them out from their houses,
Dr Ghassan Hamdan:especially the children in the squares near their buildings.
Dr Ghassan Hamdan:Trying to make some games, some painting on their faces for the
Dr Ghassan Hamdan:children. Trying to get them out from the trauma. So - and we
Dr Ghassan Hamdan:succeed to do that in different places in the old city of
Dr Ghassan Hamdan:Nablus. Other things we do is direct talks with, with the
Dr Ghassan Hamdan:children - face to face, one to one, and we got them out from
Dr Ghassan Hamdan:this kind of trauma. This experience, yani, we got it from
Dr Ghassan Hamdan:also our situation and our condition. But we try to do
Dr Ghassan Hamdan:everything which is related to the condition again, training
Dr Ghassan Hamdan:also the volunteers to do that. We have good volunteers who can
Dr Ghassan Hamdan:do good work with the children, now. They can play with them,
Dr Ghassan Hamdan:they can make games, they can get them out from the bad
Dr Ghassan Hamdan:situation and bad condition. And by that, we do this work, we try
Dr Ghassan Hamdan:to treat the trauma of the people. Yani, and do some
Dr Ghassan Hamdan:different activities.
Nicole:In Calais, where I work, it's like the border with France
Nicole:and England. There’s like 2000 refugees in camps and like loads
Nicole:of police violence, but there's this organization called Project
Nicole:Play, and like they're always next to our clinic and they're
Nicole:always playing with the kids and it’s like – so nice.
Dr Ghassan Hamdan:Yeah, this is what we can do also. We also can
Dr Ghassan Hamdan:give them some gifts. We collect gifts from the people here, the
Dr Ghassan Hamdan:local people. They are - they are very helpful. Yeah. And if
Dr Ghassan Hamdan:you ask them for something, they will give you the things because
Dr Ghassan Hamdan:first they trust us. Second they know that this is one of their
Dr Ghassan Hamdan:responsibility to help the people. So give you gifts for
Dr Ghassan Hamdan:the children. And we collect[ed], I remember,
Dr Ghassan Hamdan:thousands of gifts for the children in the old city of
Dr Ghassan Hamdan:Nablus, from the local people.
Nicole:Is there anything else you'd like to share about your
Nicole:work or that we haven't covered?
Dr Ghassan Hamdan:I want to tell you, during the normal
Dr Ghassan Hamdan:time, also, we are trying to improve our health system. And
Dr Ghassan Hamdan:we do different activities. Like for example, screening for the
Dr Ghassan Hamdan:children, screening for the young and old people, especially
Dr Ghassan Hamdan:people who are suffering from chronic diseases. So we do some
Dr Ghassan Hamdan:analysis, we do activities for them, health education, trying
Dr Ghassan Hamdan:to improve also our health system, where we can, yani, help
Dr Ghassan Hamdan:the people who are suffering from diabetes or hypertension,
Dr Ghassan Hamdan:to deal with these diseases. And improving that, we have now our
Dr Ghassan Hamdan:primary health care design, is one of the most successful
Dr Ghassan Hamdan:designs in the Middle East. And we got the World Health
Dr Ghassan Hamdan:Organization award in 2000 for building models, primary health
Dr Ghassan Hamdan:care models. So in normal time, we can do many things, we
Dr Ghassan Hamdan:don't need yani. We have enough resources, we have good medical
Dr Ghassan Hamdan:people, but we need good condition for that.
Nicole:And are there any ways that international people or
Nicole:other people can support you? I know you have huge support from,
Nicole:like, the communities here but is there anything we can do?
Dr Ghassan Hamdan:No! The help from the community is not
Dr Ghassan Hamdan:enough, because you know, the poverty is very high here. So
Dr Ghassan Hamdan:unfortunately, the help from international community is going
Dr Ghassan Hamdan:down and less than before. So it's less than 60% [of what it
Dr Ghassan Hamdan:was in] 2000, for example, [to] now. So this cause us difficult
Dr Ghassan Hamdan:work and some of our services - we lost it. Like for example, in
Dr Ghassan Hamdan:Nablus area, we don't have the mobile clinic now, because we
Dr Ghassan Hamdan:don't have enough resources for the mobile clinic. European
Dr Ghassan Hamdan:income communities, they stopped supporting some programs and we
Dr Ghassan Hamdan:stop some of our activities, one of them in Nablus area is the
Dr Ghassan Hamdan:mobile clinic. We have now a big problem with the ambulances.
Dr Ghassan Hamdan:In the law here, you can use the car as an ambulance for 10
Dr Ghassan Hamdan:years. After 10 years, you - it's not allowed for you to have
Dr Ghassan Hamdan:it as an ambulance. So we need to renew the car, the ambulance
Dr Ghassan Hamdan:. One of the ambulances now was supported by French people by
Dr Ghassan Hamdan:Toulouse city region. We asked them to renew the ambulance,
Dr Ghassan Hamdan:they said ‘we don't have now fund for that’. So we have a big
Dr Ghassan Hamdan:problem with changing the ambulance in Nablus area, which
Dr Ghassan Hamdan:is very highly needed for the people. Because our ambulances
Dr Ghassan Hamdan:is working all the time with the clashes areas. Where we have
Dr Ghassan Hamdan:clashes, our ambulances are there. We need to evacuate the
Dr Ghassan Hamdan:injured people, we need to help the people to go out from
Dr Ghassan Hamdan:buildings, which was for example, attacked by soldiers.
Dr Ghassan Hamdan:The families who was under tear gas needs our help. So
Dr Ghassan Hamdan:ambulances are very high[ly] needed and with volunteers who
Dr Ghassan Hamdan:are evacuating the people who were injured in the ambulance to
Dr Ghassan Hamdan:get them to the hospital. So this is one of our problems and
Dr Ghassan Hamdan:big bad things what we have now.
Nicole:Just as a personal interest question for me, but
Nicole:you know, being here, it's been really interesting, like seeing
Nicole:the women selling herbs on the street, and obviously everyone
Nicole:puts mint into tea. I just wondered like, what your
Nicole:experiences with health are with people using plants that they
Nicole:grow, or from their garden? Or does this play a role in
Nicole:preventative medicine or self care?
Dr Ghassan Hamdan:Medical tradition or yani popular
Dr Ghassan Hamdan:medicine, it’s is very good here in Palestine. And the people,
Dr Ghassan Hamdan:the families, they plant these plants in their houses, like
Dr Ghassan Hamdan:mint, meramiya [sage], zaatar [thyme], different things, which
Dr Ghassan Hamdan:is very good for health. And they use it. They use it and not
Dr Ghassan Hamdan:only in tea, they use it their food, which is very important
Dr Ghassan Hamdan:and very good. And I think this kind of medicine is growing good
Dr Ghassan Hamdan:in Palestine.
Nicole, Ghassan:Oh, that's great. Yes, it's good to know.
Nicole, Ghassan:Yeah. Thank you so much for your time. Yeah. Thank you. So