Thousands of patients awaiting sight-saving surgery in Gaza could be in line for urgent eye care with the latest humanitarian aid drop due to arrive from the UAE.
Supplies of ophthalmic medicine, consumables and diagnostic equipment worth about $1 million are intended for 5,000 patients on waiting lists for preventable blindness.
Theses are due to arrive in the enclave this week from the Bascom Palmer Eye Institute in Abu Dhabi, with delivery made possible by the Emirates Red Crescent group.
Medical aid will be sent to St John Eye Hospital in Gaza, where people have been awaiting optical care for more than six months due to a shortage of supplies.
“For more than six months our teams in Gaza have worked without the supplies they need to treat thousands of patients at risk of losing their sight,” said Dr Ahmad Maali, chief executive of St John of Jerusalem Eye Hospital Group.
“We are grateful to Bascom Palmer Eye Institute Abu Dhabi and to the Emirates Red Crescent for helping move this equipment and medical supplies towards the patients waiting for it. Every delivery that reaches Gaza restores a measure of the care our staff are determined to provide, regardless of a patient's ethnicity, religion, or ability to pay.”
Ophthalmic care remains one of the hardest gaps to fill during a crisis, as it requires specific medicine, consumables and diagnostic equipment that cannot easily be substituted.
The latest UAE aid consignment adds that speciality layer to the ongoing humanitarian effort in Gaza.
More than 2,000 patients with diabetes require urgent retinal laser treatment to prevent permanent loss of vision.
Diabetes causes sight loss when high blood sugar damages tiny blood vessels at the back of the eye.
Supplies include 10 boxes of surgical sutures, 600 boxes of gauze and 600 surgical gowns.
The ERC said no medical supplies or equipment had reached the facility in over six months. “The Emirates Red Crescent gives us a trusted, proven route to put specialist ophthalmic supplies into the hands of the people in Gaza who need them most,” said Dr Zain Kenderian, chief executive of Bascom Palmer Eye Institute Abu Dhabi.
“Many patients lose their sight simply because no one can reach them in time. In most of these cases, blindness is preventable. A course of medication, a laser session, a working diagnostic machine – that is often the difference between a patient keeping their sight and losing it for good. The supplies are ready. What matters now is that they reach the clinicians in Gaza who are waiting to use them,” Dr Kenderian added.
