The hospital healing the wounded from every Middle East conflict

MSF facility in Jordan specialises in cases of severe trauma suffered by victims of war

Al Mowasah Hospital in Amman is run in partnership with Doctors Without Borders (MSF). Nada Al Taher / The National

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In a hospital bed in Jordan, far from where four of his seven family members were killed, Abdulrahman, five, sits hunched over a mobile phone watching a film about dinosaurs.

The family in the film is fleeing a dinosaur that seems bent on harming them. It might seem like too much violence for someone of Abdulrahman's age, but having watched his mother, younger brother Omar and two other siblings die in front of him in an Israeli air strike in Gaza, he has already seen far worse.

His legs bandaged and scarred, Abdulrahman is being treated at the Doctors Without Borders (MSF) hospital for reconstructive surgery in Amman.

His aunt Sabah Al Madhoun sits near his bed, wondering how to heal his soul. "He says he wants to go back to Gaza, so he can see his mum among the stars. He says he can't see her in Amman's sky."

Abdulrahman watches a film on his bed at Al Mowasah Hospital in Amman. Nada AlTaher / The National

Abdulrahman's story is not unique – at least 48,300 Palestinians have been killed and more than 111,700 injured during Israel's 15-month military offensive in Gaza since October 7, 2023. But he is among the more fortunate ones as fewer than 10 per cent of 12,000 people in need of treatment abroad have been able to leave Gaza.

He is the youngest of three children from Gaza who arrived at the hospital on January 8, along with their guardians.

The Reconstructive Surgery Hospital receives patients from Iraq, Yemen, Palestine and Syria, giving them care that they would not otherwise have access to because of war or social disadvantage.

The hospital director, surgeons and other specialists meet each week to consider case files of candidates for admission, submitted by liaison officers across the region. Last year, the hospital received an average of 35 patients a month.

Cases from Gaza in particular have proven more difficult, the hospital's Dr Saleh Al Khatib said.

"They require more intervention, surgical or otherwise – like neurosurgery or plastic surgery," Dr Al Khatib told The National. "So one case could have three different specialities working together on a patient, not to mention the rehabilitation and physiotherapy is longer and requires more effort."

For Abdulrahman, the hope is that he learns to walk again and perhaps even comes to terms with his loss, with the help of mental health experts who specialise in cases of severe trauma.

He was first treated in Gaza after the air strike in October 2023 that killed his family. He suffered several fractures to his right thigh and left leg, and loss of tissue. But the volatile environment in the war zone makes patients more vulnerable to complex infections, Dr Al Khatib said.

"Abdulrahman was operated on urgently in Gaza with an external fixation device to facilitate the healing of his bones but it had to be removed because he developed an infection in his bones."

More than a month into a ceasefire, Gaza's hospitals have yet to recover from the damage inflicted by Israeli raids and bombardment. Doctors have had to perform amputations without anaesthesia or operate under flashlights in the absence of electricity.

'I felt like Cinderella'

Iraqi masters student Mariam Al Athra'a was treated at the MSF hospital a year after suffering third-degree burns to her face, neck and hands when a diesel-powered heater exploded at her home in Baghdad in 2023.

She had spent months in a darkened room at a hospital in Iraq with only her mother by her side, brooding over her disfigured face and her future, when a team of French doctors from MSF visited and asked if she would be a case study for training their Iraqi counterparts at the hospital.

Mariam Al Athra'a at Al Mowasa Hospital after undergoing surgery for third-degree burns on her face, neck and hands. Nada AlTaher / The National

Mariam agreed, thinking she would only receive better bandages or medication for her wounds. Shortly afterwards, the MSF team asked her if she could travel to the hospital in Amman.

"I waited by the door with my bags in the pouring rain like a little girl. I was drenched by the time I got into the car that took me to Jordan," she recalled. "I did not believe it was real until I arrived."

After a series of skin graft, tendon release and reconstructive surgery, the only visible signs of her injuries are a chin guard that she wears under her hijab and the bandages wrapped around her hands.

"You should have seen me before. I feel like the doctors performed magic on me. My skin is all the same colour, the scars are barely visible. I feel like Cinderella," she said, sitting in the hospital's activities room where she spends most of her time, while continuing with her treatment plan.

Besides her treatment, Mariam is also grateful for the support she received from doctors, nurses and workers at the hospital. "They encouraged me to continue my master's degree every time I felt like giving up," she said.

Mariam graduated with distinction in international relations and foreign policy last year, and is now pursuing her doctorate. She dreams of one day opening a treatment centre similar to the one that gave her a new lease of life.