180 Iraqi children were treated in Israeli hospitals
Posted on May 8, 2008
Filed Under Israel, Israeli-Muslim Conflict, Middle East, News
If there is something that should probably stay beyond the borders of politics and regional feuds, it is the existence of the possibility to provide medical treatment to those in immediate need of it.
via Gulfnews
Baghdad: A controversial Iraqi politician has revealed that scores of Iraqi children are being treated in Tel Aviv, however, Mithal Al Alousi, has denied any role in transferring these children for treatment.
“My information indicates that 180 Iraqi children are being treated for heart disease in Tel Aviv and this process is ongoing. Iraqi children have the right to have medical treatment anywhere, including Israel, because we should not ask patients about the source of treatment or medication,” Al Alousi told Gulf News.
However, Al Alousi has not disclosed his source and has also denied being behind sending the children to Israel. A few months ago Israeli media reported that Israel had sponsored Iraqi children from Kurdistan to undergo life-saving heart surgery.
Not surprisingly, Kudrish government denies
Jamal Abdullah, the Kurdish government spokes-man, however, denied the report.
“This is not true, because we don’t have relations with Israel. It is true, we send patients for treatment abroad, but we send them to Arab countries, Europe and Iran,” he told Gulf News.
Well, this is true. The TV report about Iraqi children in Israel was even aired in Israeli news, in prime time. The Kurdish government spokesman statement can be interpreted as “we don’t send children directly to Israel (which is currently impossible for the obvious reasons), but they do arrive via Jordan and Turkey.”
And by the way, the children from Iraq are not only ones who are coming from the country that has no relations with Israel. Israeli hospitals are open for treatment of patients from Somalia and Sudan as well.
Not that it matters a great deal (if at all) to us, the Israelis, but there is a high probability that these children are treated by staff with Arabic speaker in it, i.e. Israeli-Arab doctors and/or nurses. There is no hospital in Israel without Arab doctors or nurses. I hope that this little fact makes those, who deny the fact that Iraqi children are treated in Israel, feel better.
The reality is that Israeli medical expertise sometimes provides the treatment that no other in the region can. Wouldn’t it be just plain normal to send children here, despite the lack of diplomatic relations, instead of flying them to Europe or America, and thus wasting precious time and putting a patient through a long and wearying journey?
Issues like this should be solved beyond politics, beyond religions, and beyond borders.
[ad#ad-2hr]
