The São João de Jerusalén group of eye hospitals (Grupo Hospital Oftalmológico San Juan de Jerusalén) was honored this Wednesday with the 2023 António Champalimaud Vision Award for its “commitment to providing essential eye care in a region marked by conflict.”
With a total of six spaces – “six hospitals and six centers” – in the Gaza Strip, the West Bank and East Jerusalem, the hospital group has been helping Palestinians and Israelis for 140 years to deal with the problem of blindness, in a region accustomed to for decades to live with war.
“Over the years, we came to the conclusion that most of our patients could not reach us and we had to set up hospitals close to the communities. Therefore, we now operate (…) strategically in areas where there is great necessity”, says the CEO of the hospital group.
Ahmad Ma’ali reveals to TSF that the institution helps a population that is mostly poor, unemployed and misinformed, which makes access to medical care difficult, and therefore in a region where many diseases proliferate: “We have many people with cataracts, the prevalence of diabetes is enormous 20% of the population has diabetes, which affects the area of the retina and helps blindness. Many of the patients have eye problems because the parents are close relatives, that is, first cousins. It is something we also have to deal with.”
The head of the only humanitarian hospital group in Palestine that deals with eye problems adds that the number of cases of blindness in the state has increased because diabetes has also increased its incidence. Ahmad Ma’ali stresses that “diabetes, when it appears, is always very aggressive” and that it has not been “very well controlled” due to the financial difficulties of the population. Even so, case detection has also increased because elements of the hospital are on the ground. “If some patients don’t get prompt treatment, they can lose their sight,” he adds.
In the past decade, hundreds of thousands of people have received surgical eye treatment. Only in 2022, “143,000 patients were followed and 69,000 surgeries were performed,” indicates the hospital group. The Chief Executive reveals that the success rate, in some cases, is around 90%. Even so, he laments: “Every case is different and sometimes we are not able to treat it.”
Among the patients there are usually children and the hospital group has focused on them: “We go to the schools, analyze and guarantee that, if there are problems, we can identify them early and the treatment will be more effective.” effective.”
Between nurses, doctors and assistants, there are almost 280 people working in the hospital group, which also treats Israelis. Ahmad Ma’ali stresses that they are open “to all” and that they receive Israeli patients. However, they are few because, he maintains, “the Jews do not need us”: “They have sufficient services, very powerful. But some come to us and receive the same treatment as our Palestinian patients.”
War is just around the corner, says the executive president of the São João de Jerusalem group of ophthalmological hospitals, but it influences the effort to fight blindness. Even so, the official assures that the situation has improved.
“I think there is a greater awareness among the population, even about cousin marriages. We have worked a lot in this regard. But of course, I hope that the political situation calms down and that patients can seek treatment without any problem.” health professionals always have to have hope. Saying this does not mean that we are going to have a quiet country in the near future,” she adds.
Every year, the hospital group needs 16 million euros to function, reveals Ahmad Ma’ali, specifying that most of it comes from donations. The budget already exceeds one million euros, an amount assigned by the Champalimaud Foundation.
Source: TSF
