UNDP/PAPP working for improved healthcare for women in the oPt
Better Access
to Healthcare
Saving Lives in the West Bank
B
reast cancer is by far the most deadly cancer in the West Bank and Gaza,
killing hundreds of women every year. However, with early detection and
greater awareness and understanding of a disease that affects millions of
women worldwide the number could be drastically reduced. With little
resources and limited facilities, closures and restrictions on movement
within the occupied Palestinian territory (oPt) have also impacted women's ability to
secure proper medical attention for a variety of life-threatening illnesses.
To tackle these issues, UNDP/PAPP has given substantial support to the development
of healthcare infrastructure in the oPt, with a focus on providing more women with
access to improved healthcare facilities. One such facility is the Beit Jala Government
Hospital in the Bethlehem district. This impressive hospital still retains the foundations
of its original structure which date back to the early 20th century, when it was founded
by a German doctor serving the local community.
Since then, the hospital has expanded to now cater for some 170,000 inhabitants in Beit
Jala and surrounding villages, with others coming from the far reaches of the West Bank.
Beit Jala Hospital caters for the needs of most illnesses, although as with most West
Bank medical facilities, some cases are referred outside the oPt - to Israel, or a third country
- for specific treatments.
In 2001, UNDP/PAPP with funding from the Italian Government, initiated a US$1.5 million
project that established the National Palestinian Onco-haematology Center at Beit Jala
Government Hospital. The project's aim was to assist the Palestinian National Authority
(PNA) in carrying out the National Health Plan through the establishment of the Center,
aimed at improving the level of advanced medical services in the West Bank and enhancing
access to highly specialized services in the fields of oncology and haematology. The
project was completed in 2003, and has since served hundreds of women in their fight
against cancer.
"This is the only government hospital in the district and people from as far away
as Jericho and Ramallah travel to our Onco-haematology Center, for services from
diagnosis to chemotherapy and patient care, " explained the hospital's Deputy Director,
Dr. Mahmoud Elian. "We are the main centre in the West Bank, and have the capacity to
receive any cancer patient who is in desperate need of assistance, without an appointment.
If the patient is undergoing chemotherapy treatment and develops complications then they
often have to stay in the hospital for some time."
