Augusta Victoria Hospital - brief update

[Jan Miller]

Mark Brown was the LWF representative at AVH for many years. 

From: Mark Brown <mark.byr...@gmail.com>

Date: February 14, 2024 at 11:19:09 AM 



Dear friends,

I know that some of you are wondering these days about the status of Augusta Victoria Hospital and at the same time are continuing to pray for AVH, its patients, and staff.  AVH is experiencing a variety of obstacles to the delivery of its oncology and nephrology medical services.  Here are some of my observations about the current situation for AVH.

One of the biggest problems is that AVH is still unable to receive cancer patients from Gaza.  So, on top of everything else that Gazans are facing, Gaza patients with chronic illnesses aren’t getting the critical medical care that they need.  There are still some Gaza patients at AVH who had started treatment prior to October 7th and continue treatment.  These patients and their accompaniers may be able to go back to Gaza, but then they risk not being able to return to Jerusalem for treatment.

AVH and the other East Jerusalem hospitals are actively advocating for Gaza patient access to Jerusalem.

Doctors, nurses, and other AVH staff are able to go in and out of Jerusalem from the West Bank as prior to October 7th, and the AVH bus continues to bring patients to AVH from the West Bank.  There was a period after October 7th when staff had great difficulty reaching AVH from the West Bank and some staff stayed overnight at AVH in order to ensure that services were not disrupted.

Financially, the hospital struggles to be able to make necessary payments to suppliers and meet salaries.  There have been a couple payments in recent months to the East Jerusalem hospitals from the Palestinian Authority for the patients it has referred to them.  Major contributions to the East Jerusalem hospitals from the US and EU are expected to provide some relief, but not until May and June.

Mark