Latest news with #medicalevacuation
Arab News
6 hours ago
- General
- Arab News
Saudi Ministry of Defense deploys evacuation aircraft to safeguard pilgrims' health during Hajj
MAKKAH: The Saudi Ministry of Defense will deploy a fleet of aerial evacuation aircraft to respond to emergency medical cases during this year's Hajj season, set to start on June 4. The ministry will provide advanced ambulance services for transferring emergency health cases from Hajj destinations to hospitals inside and outside Makkah. An estimated 1.25 million Muslims are taking part in the Hajj pilgrimage, and between June 4-9, they will visit Makkah as well as Mina, Muzdalifah and Mount Arafat, key holy sites for pilgrims. The ministry's logistical and medical teams will oversee aerial evacuation operations in coordination with the Ministry of Health. Each aircraft is equipped with devices and supplies similar to a hospital's intensive care units, the Saudi Press Agency reported. Stationed at locations near the holy sites, the aircraft will quickly respond to emergency cases to safeguard the health of pilgrims. The ministry's announcement is part of broader health initiatives launched by Saudi authorities and companies during the Hajj season. On Monday, Saudi authorities announced the use of drones to deliver medicines and other medical supplies to patients during Hajj, cutting delivery times from an average of one hour to just six minutes. The initiative, covering a network of more than 136 locations at several sites, will be able to provide more than 2,000 types of medicines and other medical supplies.
Arab News
a day ago
- General
- Arab News
Makkah Region mayor reviews Saudi Red Crescent's preparedness for Hajj
RIYADH: Makkah Region Mayor Musaed bin Abdulaziz Al-Dawood visited the Saudi Red Crescent Authority's command and control center and medical evacuation department in Makkah on Monday, as part of ongoing efforts to enhance field readiness for the Hajj season. The mayor was briefed on the command and control system, medical evacuation procedures, and the extensive network of deployment centers strategically located across Makkah, the Saudi Press Agency reported. He reviewed coordination with relevant authorities, aiming to ensure efficient and high-quality emergency services. He also observed operational progress at the center, approved emergency response plans, the readiness of ambulance teams, and the advanced technologies used for monitoring, dispatching reports, and directing field teams in real-time throughout the Hajj season. Al-Dawood emphasized the importance of seamless coordination among all service sectors and praised the SRCA's vital role in delivering rapid emergency response to pilgrims.
Jordan Times
22-05-2025
- Health
- Jordan Times
JAF evacuates two sick children from Gaza
The Jordan Armed Forces – Arab Army (JAF) on Thursday says it evacuated two sick children from the Gaza Strip along with five accompanying family members for treatment in the Kingdom (JAF photo) AMMAN — The Jordan Armed Forces – Arab Army (JAF) on Thursday evacuated two sick children from the Gaza Strip along with five accompanying family members. The JAF said that the operation is part of the "Jordanian Medical Corridor" initiative, aimed at supporting the Palestinian people and providing urgent medical care, according to an army statement. The evacuation was conducted via the King Hussein Bridge, in cooperation with the Ministry of Health and the World Health Organisation (WHO), before the patients were transferred to designated hospitals for treatment, according to Al Mamlaka TV. To date, a total of 41 children have been evacuated to the Kingdom by land and air, accompanied by 81 family members. Among them, 17 children and their relatives have returned to Gaza after completing treatment in Jordanian hospitals, the statement said.
Jordan Times
20-05-2025
- Health
- Jordan Times
Jordan receives third batch of children from Gaza for treatment within medical corridor initiative
The Jordan Armed Forces-Arab Army (JAF) on Tuesday implements a new medical evacuation operation for six child cancer patients from Gaza along with 19 family members, as part of the Jordan Medical Corridor initiative (JAF photo) AMMAN — The Jordan Armed Forces-Arab Army (JAF) on Tuesday implemented a new medical evacuation operation for six child cancer patients from Gaza along with 19 family members, as part of the Jordan Medical Corridor initiative. The patients and their accompanying family members were received at the King Hussein Bridge on the border, in cooperation with the Ministry of Health and the World Health Organisation (WHO). They were then evacuated by Royal Jordanian Air Force helicopters to Marka Airport and from there to the King Hussein Cancer Centre to receive treatment, according to a JAF statement. The operation was conducted in line with the highest standards, implemented by specialised medical cadres who accompanied the patients. A total of 39 children and 75 family members have been medically evacuated to Jordan since the medical corridor initiative was launched. Seventeen of these children have since returned to Gaza with their families after concluding their treatment at public and private hospitals in Jordan, the statement said. The Jordan Medical Corridor initiative was launched in March this year with the goal of providing treatment for 2,000 Gazan children at Jordanian hospitals.
The Guardian
15-05-2025
- Health
- The Guardian
A grim lottery: as Israel bombs hospitals, some Gaza children are granted rare exit permits
It was a short distance but a very long journey from a bombed out hospital in Gaza to the Jordanian border. Zeinab al Astal arrived with her two sick sons as dusk was falling on Wednesday evening, and she seemed stunned they had made it at all. Twenty four hours earlier she had been watching chunks of ceiling crash down to the floor around them, after Israel bombed the European hospital in Khan Younis where they were staying. 'This medical evacuation saved us,' she said, minutes after crossing into Jordan, where her sons Ahmad, 13, and Qassem, 15, will both get treatment for leukaemia, something that is now almost impossible inside Gaza. Medical equipment has been destroyed, medicines are running out, one in three hospitals have been closed by attacks, those partly functioning are overcrowded with victims of airstrikes and assaults, and the ranks of doctors and nurses have been decimated by Israeli detention and killings. The al Astal brothers and other cancer patients are doubly unlucky children, trapped in a brutal war while also fighting their own traumatic battles against a deadly disease. Their best hope of survival is to apply for treatment abroad, and then wait for Israeli authorities' response – although trying to get an exit permit can feel like a grim lottery. Qassem was diagnosed with cancer a year and a half before the family reached Jordan, and Ahmad has been ill for nearly a year, needing regular blood transfusions in recent months. The urgent need for medical evacuations from Gaza outstripped capacity even before the war, and the UN estimates there are now more than 12,000 people who need to travel for treatment they cannot get inside the Strip. The backlog is so great that WHO director-general Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus warned in January that unless Israel allowed greater numbers to leave, it would take five or 10 years for all children in need of help to reach hospitals where they could be treated. Nine-year-old Sama has a brain tumour, and the seizures it causes have been getting steadily worse. 'There are no working MRIs in Gaza, so it is difficult to tell the nature of the tumour and decide how to treat it,' her mother, Isra, said. Four months ago her doctors applied for an urgent medical evacuation, which was approved after a few days. But Israeli authorities said Sama's six-year-old brother Abdul Rahman would have to stay in Gaza. Isra could not face leaving her younger child to face the incessant explosions, hunger and horrors of war without his mum. 'We declined the offer to take only Sama,' she said. It took weeks for her to get permission to leave with both children. Sama, the al Astal brothers and one other child who is fighting cancer left Gaza on Wednesday with their close relatives, under an initiative agreed between Jordan's King Abdullah and US President Donald Trump. Jordan wanted to evacuate the children from Gaza by air but Israeli officials refused, Jordanian officials said. So just the final section was covered in helicopters, from the Jordanian border crossing to the hospital in Amman. It is about 80 miles (130km) in a direct line from eastern Gaza to the Allenby Bridge border crossing, but the group spent all day travelling overland across Israel, including six hours waiting to leave Gaza without any water, al Astal said. The families came out of the Strip with little more than the clothes on their back and a plastic folder of medical documents for each sick child. They are likely to return with nothing more than that. On 13 May at the Kerem Shalom border crossing, Israelis seized the cash and possessions of several Palestinian families who were travelling back into the Strip after getting treatment in Jordan, Jordanian officials said. Those who get out represent just a fraction of children in urgent medical need. Rawan, just over a year old, has been waiting since the end of 2024 for permission to get treatment outside Gaza. Jonathan Crickx, Unicef spokesperson – who met Rawan and her mother this week – spotted her in the Nasser hospital because, among rows of severely malnourished children, she looked relatively healthy. Her plump cheeks concealed a failing heart. 'She has a congenital heart issue and needs an operation urgently. Her mother applied for medical evacuation five months ago and she is still waiting for approval.' he said. 'Her brother also had a medical condition requiring evacuation and he died recently while on the waiting list.' Rawan's mother is terrified her daughter will slip away next, but is entirely helpless. The surgery she needs is no longer possible in Gaza. 'The entire health system is on its knees, only 20 hospitals out of 35 are partially functioning,' said Crickx. 'They have been running out of anaesthesia and anti-coagulant, and they long ago ran out of supplies to treat children with cancer.' To get permission to travel, cases are put forward by doctors in Gaza, and most are endorsed by the WHO before they are sent to Israeli authorities for assessment. Between the start of the war in October 2023 and the middle of last month, more than 7,200 Palestinians were medically evacuated from Gaza for treatment. The largest group of patients were treated for trauma injuries but hundreds had cancer, blood diseases, eye problems and cardiovascular disease. They have been treated in countries across the region, from Qatar to Turkey, in Algeria and EU countries. More than 15,000 children have been killed by attacks and airstrikes since the war began, figures from health authorities in Gaza show. Other lives have been cut short by diseases ranging from measles to diarrhoea, which spread easily in shelters and tent encampments with little sanitation or clean water, or by hunger. Malnutrition has killed 57 children since Israel stopped letting food and medical aid into Gaza in March, the UN said. Tens of thousands more are at risk of sliding into a state of acute malnutrition. Hunger also makes children more vulnerable, weakening their bodies and starving them of the energy they need to fight disease. 'People in Gaza are trapped in a dangerous cycle where malnutrition and disease fuel each other, turning everyday illness into a potential death sentence, particularly for children,' the WHO said. 'Malnutrition weakens the bodies, making it harder to heal from injuries and fight off common communicable diseases.'
