Al Ahli Arab Hospital

More Infomation:
Founded: 1907

Director:  Mrs Suhaila Tarazi

Beginnings:
The Hospital was the first hospital in Gaza City and was built by the Church Missionary Society (CMS) in 1907.

During the years of the first Intifada, the Hospital was often swamped with wounded victims of violence. Sometimes staff were forced to treat patients on the floor in order to deal with the number of casualties.

More recently, as a result of the second Intifada, the Hospital has been in great demand again. Al Ahli Arab Hospital has suffered with its community over the years of conflict in the Gaza strip. In early 2003, the Hospital was damaged when a guided missile landed in the compound's church.

Activities:

The Hospital is respected as a provider of the highest quality health care for all. It works closely with the Palestinian National Authority Ministry of Health and is the first to receive the overflow from the government hospital in Gaza. A significant proportion of the care is charitable, in a community where over 60% of residents live in refugee camps and 70% live below the poverty line.

Hospital services

• All the usual departments one would expect to find in a hospital, for in and out-patients.

• A highly respected health education programme for the community, to raise public awareness of disease and enhance lifestyle.

• The best rehabilitation services in the Gaza Strip. More than 10,000 people receive physiotherapy a year.

• The first established medical library in Gaza and in-service training for its staff.

Mobile clinics

The Hospital organises monthly medical outreach clinics to villages in the Gaza Strip, for those unable to travel outside their village due to Israeli military restrictions. A team of volunteer doctors, nurses and pharmacists provide desperately needed medical attention to more than 500 people at each clinic. As well as giving high-quality, often free medical care, the clinics provide children with sandwiches, and families with rice and other dry goods.

Click here for a printable factsheet on Al Ahli Hospital