Gaza’s Turkish surgeon calls for urgent health care support
Taner Kamacı, a pediatric surgery specialist volunteering in Gaza since March 18, has urgently requested health care workers and equipment
doctor Taner Kamacı, a pediatric surgery specialist working as a volunteer physician in Gaza since March 18, called for urgent health care workers and equipment, he told Anadolu Agency (AA).
Kamacı said that hundreds of severely injured people are brought to the emergency department of the hospital where he works every day as a result of Israel’s attacks, emphasizing: “There is a serious need for materials. If supplies run out and cannot reach emergencies, only emergency surgeries are performed.”
“We need substantial expert medical support from around the world and substantial medical material support,” Kamacı stressed.
Kamacı mentioned that he was the only one from Türkiye on the team. “We are currently in a region between Khan Younis and Rafah. We are at the Gaza European Hospital. We provide health care here,” he explained.
“There has been great oppression and genocide continuing for six months in front of the whole world’s eyes. Unfortunately, there are states and governments that remain silent despite having the power to speak up,” he noted.
He said: “Personally, everyone has their own trial, and I am here to take my own test. Because first and foremost, I am a believer, and then I am a conscientious person.”
Kamacı highlighted that conscientious people around the world are engaging in various activities such as boycotts and demonstrations to support Gaza. As a physician, he had the opportunity to do his part in the medical field, emphasizing the significant need for trauma surgeons, nurses specialized in trauma surgery and intensive care nurses in the region.
Kamacı pointed out that only two hospitals are providing significant health care services in Gaza.
He underlined that the number of aid trucks reaching Gaza from the Rafah border crossing is insufficient to meet the region’s needs, stating that while there is a need for at least a thousand trucks per day, the number of trucks entering the region ranges from 70 to 100.
WHEN THEY HEARD TÜRKİYE
Kamacı mentioned that despite the difficulties and hunger Gazans face, they shared their sahur, the last predawn meal before the start of the daily fast, and iftar, a dinner to mark the breaking of the daily fast, meals with him.
“Until we crossed from Egypt to Gaza, everyone looked upset, but as soon as we arrived in Gaza, despite all this war, pain, scarcity and all these hardships, I saw people who were always smiling. This deeply affected me. They welcomed us very well,” he said.
“Especially, many people who heard that I came from Türkiye came and hugged me directly. People here have high expectations from Türkiye,” he added.
He also pointed out that people displaced from northern Gaza and other areas take refuge around the hospital where they work, trying to stay in places they consider safer such as hospital corridors and stairwells.
Indicating that only temporary solutions can be provided in Gaza as long as the war continues, Kamacı concluded: “Maybe this is the safest place in Gaza, yet almost every day there are bombings near the hospital, around us. Every day, 50, 60, 100 people come to the emergency room, either seriously injured patients rescued from rubble, or adults children and women who have been shot, especially with sniper wounds.”
“We try to operate and treat them as best as we can, but while a bomb injures or kills 100 people, we gather 100 people to try to save 20 patients. The pain, injuries and traumas suffered by these children, women and people here are unbearable. Even though we are health care workers, our hearts cannot bear it,” he said.