Hospital Staff in Hunger Strike Protest

Medics stuck at border crossing on humanitarian mission abroad

A doctor and nurse from Hammersmith Hospital have begun a hunger strike in Egypt after being refused entry to the Gaza Strip where they are hoping to set up a cardiac surgery unit, The Guardian newspaper reports.

Cardiac surgeon Omar Mangoush and nurse Kirsty Wong have both taken a month's leave from work to travel to Gaza with the UK-based charity Palestine International Medical Aid (PIMA).

The aim of the mission is to set up a cardiac surgery unit at al-Shifa hospital in Gaza City and help train medical students and doctors there, the Guardian report says. However, the medics have been stuck on the Egyptian side of the border since the beginning of May, with the Egyptian authorities repeatedly refusing to let them cross.

“The group are senior doctors and a nurse sent by PIMA to set up a cardiac and cardiothoracic surgery unit and to offer their expertise in teaching to the medical students and junior doctors in Gaza. It is beyond comprehension that the Egyptian authorities do not allow them entry despite all the talk about humanitarian aid to the people of Gaza,” said PIMA Director, Dr Ahmed Almari.

“We call upon the Egyptian authorities to grant them access instead of wasting their precious clinical time in the desert of Sinai,” he added.

Dr Mangoush told the Guardian that he and eight international colleagues in the group would remain on hunger strike until they were allowed to cross the border: “This is very important for us. There are loads of people with heart disease (in Gaza). They can't get here (to Egypt), they can't get to Israel. If it's this hard for us to get to, how difficult is it for the Palestinians to get out?" he said.

Egypt allowed aid and medical supplies as well as some doctors into the Gaza Strip during Israel's offensive on the territory at the beginning of this year but otherwise has kept the crossing closed for much of the past 18 months.

Israel, which controls the rest of the crossings into Gaza, also keeps the borders closed, making it almost impossible for Gazans to import essential supplies or leave the territory for medical treatment.

Hammersmith Hospital declined to comment, saying the two members of staff were acting on behalf of a charity in their own free time and not in their capacity as hospital employees.

May 19, 2009