Medical Campaign x The Sameer Project

Medical Care: The Sameer Project in Honor of Mosab Ali

The healthcare situation in Gaza is a catastrophe. Medical aid does not consistently enter Gaza due to the occupation’s blockade of the strip and banning necessary medications, treatments, supplies, and machinery. Not only is lifesaving medication and supplies prohibited from entering, for the large part so are medical missions with foreign doctor and nurse delegates and medical evacuations have been few and far between, preventing those who need care from leaving. Yet the bombing, the shootings, the famine, the fighting chronic illnesses…none of this has stopped, even after the so called “ceasefire.”

A note about commission and fees that are reflected in our updates: From November till January, our fiscal host in the UK reduced their commission from 7% to 5% and our fiscal host in Gaza stayed at 4%, so you will notice 9% commission instead of our usual 11%. Starting in February, it went back up to 11% as 2% is now allocated for stipends for the team abroad. This commission is taken from the amount that arrives in our fiscal host's bank account - keep in mind if donating through Chuffed, it's free, tipping is optional, but the platform removes the Stripe processing fee from each donation.

The Sameer Project now has two medical points in Central Gaza after relocating our North medical point during the land invasion in August. We hope to open a new medical point in the North should funding permit. The healthcare situation in the North is devastating, with zero major hospitals in the upper Northern region after the occupation destroyed Kamal Adwan and Indonesian Hospitals. We have 3 doctors at out Refaat Camp along with 5 nurses, 5 doctors at Sawarha Camp and 3 nurses, 2 physiotherapists, a psychiatrist, a dentist at Sawarha, a speech therapist, and additional doctors we consult with - all at out disposal for patient care. Our doctors include pediatricians, orthopedic surgeons, a neurologist, and dermatologist - all extremely helpful during medical days where we travel to camps and treat upwards of 250 patients at times. We also refer patients to them for specialized care that they do not receive in hospitals. 

This campaign funds…
* Purchase sourced medication from private pharmacies for patients referred to us
* Supply medication not available in hospital pharmacies to patients 
* Purchase supplies like gauze, iodine, antiseptics, antibiotics, wheel chairs, crutches, walkers, etc. for those with “war injuries”
* Fund our “Wound Care” project - traveling doctors and nurses who treat those who otherwise would be in the hospital, in their tents providing dressing changes, medication, and physiotherapy 
* In-clinic physiotherapy sessions for children suffering from brain atrophy and mental and physical delays 
* Specialized formula for malnourished babies and toddlers
* Fortified nutritional supplements for malnourished children 
* Medical Days for skin diseases, new mothers, and injuries 
* Dental Days both mobile in camps and in clinic 
* Provide food or cash aid/e-wallets to “special circumstance” patients 
* Secure aid for hospitals that are not provided by the Ministry of Health 

*Pay for surgeries/procedures that are not life saving (those are free) but life altering in terms of pain management. 

*Educational workshops to teach proper hygiene, women’s health set-checks, how to keep babies warm, etc

*Humanitarian assistance for medical cases 

Everything we source, purchase, and provide is already in Gaza. But stocks are running out. This is why otherwise free medication and supplies are sold at exorbitant prices and must be searched for across numerous pharmacies and medical suppliers. We have the network of nurses and doctors to help us provide what others cant. This work should be done by large relief organizations and iNGOs but because of the difficulty operating in Gaza and since aid trucks are sitting at the border without permission to enter, many are rendered useless and it has fallen on The Sameer Project to fill the gaps left by them. 

We carry out large scale campaigns to mitigate outbreaks of contagious diseases, we provide hospitals (such as Nasser) with formula, we bring fresh vegetables to cancer patients (like at Al Helou), and we give aid and assistance to those who are awaiting evacuation (also bringing them to our Refaat Alareer Camp) to keep them stable enough to travel. 

We have named the campaign after our martyred South coordinator and camp manager, Mosab Ali, who also worked on his own mental health and physical rehabilitation project, focusing on healing those who are suffering. He would often come across those injured and too poor to afford tretemnemt and call our doctors to help. He ran The Refaat Alareer Camp and managed 30+ families with critically ill and injured members. And Mosab himself had a son who was medically evacuated to Qatar with his wife and other two children. It is in his honor that we continue to offer medical support to those in need. 

We spend on average $5,000 every 10 days on medication for patients, $10,000 every restock of the medical points, $10,000 every 1.5-2 months on our wound care project, and more expenses based on the availability and cost of vegetable parcels, formula, supplements, and supplies for our medical days. Each Medical Day whether the North or South averages around $1,000 and we host several per week. Every day, again even AFTER the “ceasefire,” produces more wounded, the sick get sicker, and those with chronic diseases suffer. Children are dying as they await evacuation. Cancer patients have no palliative care. Painkillers are scarce. We cannot solve many of these problems, only aid and delegations entering will, but with your help we can provide some medical care, what is available, to SAVE LIVES in Gaza.