Fifteen Palestinian minors with serious health problems resulting from the effects of the Israeli offensive on the Gaza Strip and 27 immediate family members are arriving in Madrid today from Cairo to be treated in Spanish hospitals.
Specifically, there are 13 injured children, an oncology patient and another with a chronic heart disease.
This operation responds to the commitment made by the Ministry of Health with the World Health Organisation (WHO), announced by the President of the Government, and which has also involved the participation and collaboration of the Ministries of Inclusion, Social Security and Migration; Foreign Affairs, European Union and Cooperation; Defence; and the Interior. The WHO; the European Commission’s Emergency Response Coordination Centre (ERCC); and the Palestinian Children’s Aid Fund have also been involved and collaborating.
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Spain will care for and take in 15 Gazan minors and 27 family members
The Gazan children, most of them with various types of trauma injuries, will be treated in hospitals in the Basque Country, Asturias, Navarra, Castilla La Mancha and the Gómez Ulla hospital in Madrid, under the coordination of the Ministry of Health. Family members will also be welcomed and accompanied by the Ministry of Inclusion, Social Security and Migration in collaboration with the NGO Accem.
The children, their families and the teams from the Ministries of Health and Inclusion, Social Security and Migration will arrive at Torrejón de Ardoz Military Airport aboard a medicalised aircraft of the Ministry of Defence, which offers all the security guarantees for an evacuation of this kind.
This completes the first medical evacuation within the Medevac mechanism with Palestinian patients from Gaza due to the conflict. Medevac is a medical evacuation mechanism that is activated when a country is faced with a disaster that overwhelms its response capacity and requires assistance through the civil protection mechanism, and whose activation involves the European Commission’s Emergency Response Coordination Centre to mobilise assistance and experts from participating countries.
In this case, the WHO has coordinated the management of this request to the ERCC and has activated Medevac. Spain has participated in previous Medevac mechanisms to assist patients from Ukraine and Moldova. And now it is the first European country to bring Palestinian minors evacuated from Gaza to receive medical treatment through this mechanism. The Ministry of Health is also calling on other European countries to join this mechanism for the reception of minors.
Medical care in Spanish hospitals
Once in Spain, the children will be taken to different hospitals in the country to be treated, depending on the availability and specialities of each of the medical centres and the needs of the patients. They will be transferred this Thursday, 25 July.
The patients will be distributed as follows: five to Hospital Universitario Donostia in the Basque Country; five to Hospital Universitario de Cruces in Baracaldo, also in the Basque Country; two to Hospital Universitario Central de Asturias in Oviedo; two to Hospital General Universitario de Toledo; one to Hospital Universitario de Navarro in Pamplona; and one to Hospital Gómez Ulla in Madrid, which is part of the Ministry of Defence.
Medical evacuation in an army plane
The Ministry of Health has sent four medical staff from the offices of the Minister, the Secretary of State and Ingesa to Cairo to coordinate the operation on the ground and carry out the relevant health needs studies for the minors before the trip to Madrid, in collaboration with the Ministry of Inclusion, Social Security and Migration, which is carrying out the psychosocial care studies.
From this past Saturday until next Wednesday, the teams will supervise the grouping of the children in the Egyptian capital and organise their evacuation to Madrid, in collaboration with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, European Union and Cooperation through its Embassy in Cairo. They will also be assisted by staff from the European Commission’s Emergency Response Coordination Centre and the Palestinian Children’s Aid Fund.
The evacuation of the children will take place in a medical aircraft of the Air and Space Army, which is providing the technical infrastructure and specialised personnel from the UMAER (Aero-evacuation Medical Unit) to ensure the safety of the patients at all times. The aircraft is also equipped with state-of-the-art electro-medical equipment and medical supplies, which are constantly checked and ready for use.
The UMAER is a unit that is characterised by its professionalism, meticulousness and anticipation of different scenarios. For this reason, the equipment they transport is duplicated to enable them to deal with any eventuality.
Reception
The Ministry of Inclusion, Social Security and Migration has also travelled in the delegation sent to Cairo to attend to the families of the children who will later be cared for in Spain. They are accompanied by two members of the Ministry’s Directorate General of Migration Management and two interpreters from Accem, the collaborating entity that will carry out the project known as the Cunina Project.
The project aims to attend to the urgent medical needs of the children, allowing them to be accompanied by their closest family members during treatment.
Accem and the Ministry of Inclusion will manage the provision of different services and actions within the shelter, such as accommodation, food and coverage of basic needs, as well as comprehensive care, consisting of information and guidance, accompaniment, psychological and legal care, and translation and interpretation services.
For the duration of the operation, the families will be housed in resources managed by Accem in the Basque Country, Castilla La Mancha, Asturias, Navarre and Madrid. It has been facilitated by the greater proximity to the hospitals where medical care is provided to the minors or, failing that, the displacement of family members to the corresponding hospital. These people will also receive financial assistance to cover their needs while they participate in the programme.
Acknowledgement of the Palestinian Children’s Relief Fund (PCRF)
The Palestinian Children’s Relief Fund (PCRF) is the NGO that cares for children evacuated to Egypt from the Gaza Strip and is responsible, together with the Palestinian Authority, for their care and transfer to host countries. PCRF President Vivian Khalaf said, ‘We thank the Government of Spain, the ERCC and the WHO for responding to our appeals. This historic cooperation will ensure life-saving treatment for injured children in Europe. This partnership is a testament to the power of international solidarity and compassion, and reinforces our mission at PCRF to provide these children with critical medical and humanitarian care during these difficult times.
Meanwhile, Tareq Hailat, who heads PCRF’s overseas treatment programme, says, ‘The courage and resilience of these young patients inspires us every day. Sadly, many more children, like these 15, are in urgent need of medical care and evacuation. This mission represents hope for many families in Gaza and demonstrates the transformative impact of global solidarity. We also look forward to similar missions starting next week in Belgium, Norway and Italy, and hope they will continue’.