Being a medical professional in Gaza today is a job of almost unbound trauma. Dr Mohammed Abu Mughaisib has seen this first-hand, from Khan Younis to Rafah – but continues to work although his family have left
Dr Mohammed Abu Mughaisib is the deputy medical coordinator for Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) in Palestine. His work covers Nablus, the West Bank, Jerusalem and Gaza.
Tell me about the work that you do.
Things keep changing. We are always opening things and closing things. Last December, we opened a field hospital in Rafah, for example. We had an operating room, 60-bed capacity, an outpatient clinic for treating patients with trauma and burns. Unfortunately, we had to evacuate the hospital this May. We’d already had to evacuate from Khan Younis in February when there was a military operation there. Same as in Gaza – we had to evacuate from al-Shifa hospital in April. Now we are only active in Nasser hospital [in Khan Younis]. We have two operating rooms and one outpatient clinic. Since we opened two months ago there has been full occupancy. We discharge one patient and we admit five.
