Palestinian cancer patients stranded in Egypt struggle to find care

August 27, 2024 - 19:10

Hundreds of Palestinians with cancer, evacuated to Egypt during the Gaza war, are either going without medical treatment or receiving limited care in Egyptian hospitals, Middle East Eye revealed.

According to a survey carried out by the Gaza-based cancer charity Towards Hope and Peace, at least 361 Palestinian cancer patients say they are not receiving the medical assistance they need after leaving the embattled Gaza Strip for Egypt.

Many of the patients and family members, including some of the dozen MEE interviewed, said they were told before leaving Gaza that they would be taken to third countries, including the United Arab Emirates and Turkey, for further treatment.

Egypt, which has taken around 6,000 Palestinian patients from Gaza into their hospitals since last October, was only intended to be a stop along the way.

But doctors and NGO staff say medical evacuations taking Palestinian patients out of Egypt have dwindled since this spring, leaving many stuck in facilities without cancer specialists, equipment or necessary medicine.

"We are left alone and dumped here," Linda Abu Mansi, a 24-year-old photographer who is now the caretaker of her 19-year-old sister, Hend, who has breast cancer, said. 


 

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