Association Activities – The Palestinian Doctors Association in Europe

With the Participation of Leading Doctors and International Experts: PalMed Holds an Academic Conference to Support Medical Students in Gaza.

London, 23 November 2024

In light of the challenging circumstances in Gaza, PalMed Academy of PalMed Europe – the Palestinian Doctors’ Association in Europe held an academic conference on Saturday, 23 November 2024, at the Royal Society of Medicine in London. The conference was attended by international medical experts with experience in education and medical training especially in Gaza., the conference, titled “Resurrecting Medical Education in Gaza: Challenges and Solutions,” addressed the severe challenges facing Gaza’s medical education due to the blockade and destruction of healthcare and educational infrastructure.

The conference featured discussions and presentations emphasising innovation of the Gaza Educate Medics led by PalMed Academy and the role of international networks in supporting medical education in Palestine.

Dr. Hussam Adwan, Consultant Surgeon at Wirral University Hospital in the UK and conference chair, said:
“Your participation today fuels the flame of hope not only for students and faculty but for all residents of Gaza.”

Dr. Mohammed Zughbar, Dean of the Faculty of Medicine at Al-Azhar University, delivered an opening lecture comparing medical education in Gaza before the war with its current state. He highlighted the devastating impact of the conflict on the educational system and its broader societal implications.

Dr. Riyad Masharqah, Chair of the Advisory Council of the Palestinian Doctors’ Association in Europe, praised the resilience of Gaza’s medical students and emphasised that this initiative aims to ensure their future, maintain the continuity of medical faculties, and address the critical shortage of healthcare professionals.

Professor Mahmoud Loubani, Consultant Cardiothoracic Surgeon and Chair of Palmed Academy and CEO of the GEM scheme, stated: “This initiative, under the GEM program, is an investment in Gaza’s future. It ensures the continuity of medical education and the availability of qualified medical personnel to serve the community.”

Since its launch in June 2024, the initiative has enrolled over 2,101 students with the support of more than 1,000 international volunteers offering lectures and assistance through an integrated educational platform. A mentorship scheme for the students of Gaze was unveiled at the conference to commence on the 7th December 2024.

The conference highlighted the struggles faced by Gaza’s medical schools, including the destruction of infrastructure and severe shortages of educational and medical resources. Before the recent conflict, nearly 2,500 students were enrolled in medical faculties at Al-Azhar and Islamic universities.

Dr. Anwar Sheikh Khalil, Dean of the Faculty of Medicine at the Islamic University of Gaza, remarked:
“The destruction of medical education infrastructure threatens not only students’ futures but also the entire healthcare system in Gaza.”

A Global Message of Solidarity

Prominent international figures attended the conference, including Professor Mads Gilbert, the renowned Norwegian humanitarian, and Professor Nick Maynard from Oxford as well as a host of prominent educationalists and academics.

Students from Gaza joined remotely, with Lina Abuhein discussing the daily challenges they face and their essential needs for continuing their education. Tariq Abdel Jawad, from the the GEM Students’ Engagement Committee, shared how students contributed to hospitals during the war, underscoring the hope that international support provides for their education and service to their community.

Charity Dinner

The academic day concluded with a charity dinner, where attendees raised over $150,000 to support the initiative. The main guest speaker and guest of honour at the dinner was Dr. Husam Zomlot, Palestine’s ambassador to the UK who endorsed the initiative and emphasised education as a means of resilience for Palestinians through the decades of occupation.

Palmed Academy: A Vision for Sustainable Medical Education

Founded in 2022, Palmed Academy is the educational arm of the Palestinian Doctors’ Association in Europe, aiming to enhance healthcare in Palestine through education and training. The academy collaborates with international universities and institutions to provide advanced learning materials and training programs.

Through these efforts, PalMed Academy and its partners aim to preserve medical education in Gaza as a cornerstone of Palestinian resilience amidst ongoing challenges imposed by the blockade and conflict.

For more information about GEM and PalMed Academy:- www.Palmedacademy.com

Togeter, We can.

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1st June 2024

Over 2,500 medical students in Gaza have had their education abruptly interrupted due to the current Israeli incursion.

PalMed Europe and PalMed Academy have launched the GEM (Gaza Educates Medics) Scheme to support these medical students. 🎉 The scheme was launched by Professor Mahmoud Lubani, Chair of PalMed Academy, along with the two deans of the medical colleges in Gaza: Professor Dr. Mohammed Zogbur from Al-Azhar University and Professor Anwar Shaik Khalil from The Islamic University.

Other distinguished speakers at the launch included Dr. Riyad Masharqa, Chair of PalMed Europe, Dr. Lubna Saghir, Consultant in Family Medicine, and Mr Moutie Abraham from Greater Translogic Advisory company in South Africa, who led the efforts to provide the GEM platform.

The GEM platform was simultaneously launched to allow students and tutors to access the platform and resume their studies.

So far, over 1,900 medical students have registered to join the scheme, with over 180 tutors.

Since the estimated monthly cost of the project is about 300,000 USD, multiple organizations, charities, and companies have joined PalMed Academy to support this project.

For more information about joining the scheme, please visit: PalMed Academy

For donations, please visit: Donate Now

You can watch the launch

Together we can

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Monday, 29/04/2024

Rafah Crossing – Egyptian Side

After spending two weeks of volunteer service in hospitals in the north and south of the Gaza Strip, members of PalMedEurope’s fifth specialised international delegation left Palestine today, Monday, and arrived at the Egyptian side of the Rafah Crossing.

By the Grace and Guidance of God, consultant colleagues in the following specialties: (Intensive Care and Anaesthesia – Vascular Surgery – Burn and Cosmetic Surgery – Emergency Surgery – Intensive Care Nursing – Orthopaedic Surgery – Anaesthesia and Emergency) were able to perform dozens of specialised surgical operations and interventions for the wounded and patients from among our people in the Gaza Strip. The delegation also managed to deliver quantities of medical supplies, devices, and medications urgently needed for Gaza’s hospitals.

In this regard, we extend our thanks and appreciation to colleagues and members of the delegation and to all donors and supports of PalMedEurope’s activities who contribute towards the success of our delegations’ missions, and the delivery of medications, and medical equipment. Special thanks also go to PalMed’s office in Gaza and to our dedicated colleagues and medical staff working in the Strip’s hospitals.

We also extend our gratitude to Rahma Worldwide Foundation with whom our delegations that reached the Strip joined ranks. We affirm that PalMedEurope will continue to equip and send medical delegations, and to arrange and implement sustainable relief projects to support the health sector there until Gaza’s hospitals return to a better state than they were before Israel’s barbaric aggression against Gaza and its sustained targeting of its health sector, God Willing. We pray to the Almighty to dispel the injustice and aggression that Israel continues to perpetrate against our people as soon as possible.

Amen!

Together, we can.

Monday 15/04/2024
Rafah – Palestine

Continuing in its medical relief efforts for the helpless and innocent civilians being murdered and maimed by Israel for more than six consecutive months, the fifth delegation of the Palestinian Doctors Association in Europe (PalMed) has arrived in the Gaza Strip. The team comprises eight medical specialists who will toil towards alleviating the suffering of the civilians there by supporting the healthcare sector and its dwindling number of specialists due to being systematically targeted by Israel. The team is travelling as part of Rahma Worldwide Foundation’s eighth delegation and via coordination with the Palestinian Ministry of Health.

PalMed’s fifth specialised delegation consists of consultants in the following specialisations:

· Intensive care and anaesthesia
· Vascular surgery
· Thoracic surgery
· Emergency surgery
· Heart diseases
· Orthopaedic surgery
· Paediatric intensive care

PalMed has provided its delegation with the necessary medical supplies and equipment needed for doctors’ work in Gaza’s hospitals, as per requests made by local doctors and by officials from the Ministry of Health in Gaza’s hospitals from members of PalMed’s previous delegation that had performed medical procedures there.

PalMed’s fifth delegation’s members will be performing specialised surgical operations for patients and the wounded in Palestine in an effort towards alleviating their suffering, and also to support their peers in the Strip’s hospitals.

God Willing, PalMed will continue to send specialised delegations and needed medical supplies and medications to Gaza in fulfilment of its professional and humanitarian duty and in strengthening the resilience of the dedicated local medical teams there.

In this regard, we supplicate The Almighty to keep our delegation’s members safe, as well as all medical personnel and innocent civilians in our beloved Palestine. We also pray for the end of this unjust Israeli Zionist aggression as soon as possible by the Will and Power of God.

Together We Can

Rafah, April 1, 2024

Today, doctors who took part in the fourth specialised medical delegation of PalMed, jointly with their peers in the sixth delegation of Rahma Worldwide Foundation, left Palestine through the Rafah Crossing. The joint delegation had spent two weeks providing medical aid to our brethren in Gaza at the European Hospital there. The delegation had arrived in Gaza on March 18, 2024 and consisted of 24 medical professionals equipped with medicines and necessary medical equipment and materials for performing surgeries and for the provision of urgent medical services to our Palestinian people there.

The delegation was headed by Dr Riyadh Masharqah, President of PalMed, Europe. The doctors and medical professionals specialised in:

– Paediatric surgery

– Intensive care and anaesthesia

– Vascular surgery

– Emergency surgery

– Critical care nursing

– Orthopaedic surgery

– Anaesthesia and Emergency

By the grace and guidance of God, and through their continuous efforts over the span of two weeks, the team members were able to perform dozens of surgical operations and specialised surgical interventions in all their specialties.

The Association of Palestinian Doctors in Europe – PalMed – will continue sending specialised medical delegations to the Gaza Strip to perform their professional and humanitarian duty in supporting the resilience of the dedicated medical teams there, despite the severe shortage of medicines and medical equipment, in light of the increasing numbers of casualties and injuries.

In this regard, we thank The Almighty for the safe return of our delegation members. We also extend our heartfelt gratitude and appreciation to all donors, contributors, volunteers, and supporters, both from institutions as well as individuals, who supported the efforts of PalMed towards sending doctors and purchasing medicines and medical supplies to serve our people in Palestine.

May God reward you all with abundant goodness.

For Donation :-

Gaza Emergency Medical Appeal

Arrival in Gaza of the Fourth Specialised Delegation of the Palestinian Doctors Association in Europe (PalMed) and the Sixth Delegation of Rahma Worldwide Foundation

Highlighting the unwavering commitment of our medical professionals dedicated to serving Palestine, a joint delegation of PalMed and Rahma Worldwide Foundation has safely arrived in Gaza. The delegation’s medical professionals aim to persist in their endeavours to bolster the healthcare infrastructure in the Gaza Strip and stand in solidarity with the Palestinian medical community and the innocent civilians there.

On Monday, March 18, 2024, a delegation comprising 22 esteemed colleagues, specialising in the fields below, arrived in Gaza for this purpose, equipped with requisite medical provisions and equipment essential for Gaza’s hospitals, including supplies for surgeries and medical services for our Palestinian brethren:

Intensive Care and Anaesthesia

Vascular Surgery

Burns and Cosmetic Surgery

Paediatric Surgery

Emergency Surgery

Intensive Care Nursing

Orthopaedic Surgery

Anaesthesia and Emergency

Leading this delegation is Dr Riyadh Masharqah, a distinguished specialist in burns and cosmetic surgery and the President of PalMed – Europe. The delegation intends to engage in a two-week mission in the Gaza Strip, conducting a series of specialised surgeries and urgent medical interventions.

Moreover, with the grace of God, PalMed pledges to continue dispatching specialised medical delegations to the Gaza Strip, fulfilling their professional and humanitarian calling in fortifying the resilience of the dedicated local medical teams there, notwithstanding the acute shortages of medicines and medical equipment required to address the escalating numbers of casualties and injuries.

We extend our heartfelt wishes for the safety of the delegation and all medical teams in the Gaza Strip, as well as for the well-being of our Palestinian brethren therein.

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Cairo, 04/03/2024

Members of the medical delegation from PalMedEurope andRAHMA WORLDWIDE in the Gaza Strip have returned after a two-week medical relief mission, dedicated to serving the wounded and sick there. This is part of the ongoing efforts of PalMedEurope to support the healthcare sector in the Gaza Strip and stand by their colleagues there.

The delegation consisted of the following specialties:

Facial and eye surgery

Resuscitation and intensive care

Vascular surgery

Chest surgery

Emergency medicine

Orthopaedic surgery

Operating theater nurses

With God’s grace, the delegation brought in quantities of medicines and medical supplies for surgeries, intensive care units, and anaesthesia. They were able to perform dozens of successful surgical operations for patients and the wounded.

PalMedEurope will continue to send specialised medical delegations to the Gaza Strip, and is already in the process of sending the third specialised medical delegation soon, God Willing. This is to fulfil our professional and humanitarian duty towards enhancing the resilience of the dedicated local medical teams in Gaza and to serve our Palestinian people in the Gaza Strip.

All thanks and appreciation to the colleagues who participated in the delegation, as well as to the donors and supporters of PalMed’s activities.