General News
The Government has approved a plan to evacuate around 30 sick children from Gaza for treatment and provide them with medical care in Irish hospitals.
Health Minister Stephen Donnelly said it is in response to the World Health Organisation (WHO) request to address the current health needs of people from Gaza.
The minister said he and his officials spent “months working on the proposal alongside medical doctors, the Irish Red Cross (IRC) and other Government Departments including the Departments of Foreign Affairs, Justice, and Social Protection.
“The HSE will act in a central coordination role across all required services/service providers on arrival and travel to hospital or accommodation as appropriate.”
He added: “I really want to thank the nurses, the doctors, the Irish Red Cross and all who have been involved in ensuring Ireland steps up to this need. This is a modest but important step given the scale of the horrific conflict by the Israeli military forces. The continued and deliberate attacks on civilians and on healthcare facilities are wrong and should stop.”
Around 30 child patients could be treated here before the end of the year for various conditions including cancer, haemodialysis and patients with other severe illnesses.
They will not include children needing orthopaedics “to ensure there is no impact on HSE efforts to increase the number of procedures being carried out in this speciality.”
Ireland will be opting in on a case-by-case basis for each child who requires treatment, subject to the necessary capacity being available at that time.
The plan is for children to travel with a carer, who will be accommodated in accommodation managed by the IRC.
“This includes accommodation owned by healthcare workers as well as accommodation being provided via the IRC. The care package being provided includes caseworker and translation services to ensure that patients and their carers are well looked after and have assistance in accessing all services as needed.
“In addition, the HSE will provide appropriate psycho-social assessment for both patients and carers. All patients and carers are required to get health screening prior to travel.”
The Department of Health said that as an EU member state Ireland is asked to respond to this request from WHO to assist in addressing the current health needs in Gaza. Ireland has a strong tradition of providing humanitarian assistance including through the Department of Foreign Affairs Irish Aid humanitarian and development assistance programme and the HSE Global Health Programme.
“Procedures for medical evacuations to Ireland are well established in the Ukraine context. Medical evacuation requests are managed through the Union Civil Protection Mechanism (UCPM), with the HSE managing the clinical support of the injured patient and other Departments and Agencies responding to the ancillary support needs as above,” it said.
“The services of the EU’s Union Civil Protection Mechanism (UCPM) will be used for transfer from Egypt to Ireland and Baldonnel Aerodrome will be the point of arrival.
“All required national service providers will be present on arrival. The Department of Health will coordinate with the UCPM and the Department of Defence and the Defence Forces on the availability of the Baldonnel Aerodrome and for completion of the required certificates and authorisations for use of the facility. “
