Jerusalem- In the Department of Hematology and Marrow Transplantation at Augusta Victoria Hospital (Al-Mutla’) in the occupied city of Jerusalem, two women and a girl are lying on recovery beds, after undergoing autologous bone marrow transplantation operations for them. The operation that was performed on the child Sarah Obaid (13 years old) – who suffers from a bone tumor – It is the first of its kind in a Jerusalemite and Palestinian hospital that suffers from scarcity of resources.
Tel Aviv Tribune Net visited the department, in which dozens of doctors and nurses work like a beehive, and accompanied them during two autologous marrow transplant operations for a patient suffering from multiple myeloma and another suffering from Hodgkin’s lymphoma. Both of them arrived from areas of the West Bank that are separated from Jerusalem by an Israeli wall and checkpoints, where Special coordination is required to enter.
Between his three patient rooms and a fourth room in which a patient is being prepared for an autologous marrow transplant by separating stem cells from other blood components, the hematology and marrow transplant specialist and head of the blood and marrow transplant department at Al-Mutalaa Hospital, Dr. Hamdi Janazra, moves around, and speaks with pride about what his department has achieved so far. Business has fluctuated for years.
Stumbling and persisting
Janazra says that the department performed 3 autologous marrow transplant operations in 2017, but the work later faltered due to a lack of training and the failure to seek permanent external expertise, so it was decided to create a sustainable program for marrow transplant operations, which required relying on internal teams, so they were trained abroad and launched again in October. 2023.
“The department received two patients from Gaza and others from the West Bank, and after performing the transplant on them, the war broke out, and we had a problem with the patients’ arrival, so work was interrupted for 6 months, and we started again last April,” Janazra added.
The patient needs to stay in isolated quarantine rooms in this department for about 16 days, and thus between 4 and 6 autologous marrow transplantations are performed per month, because the capacity of this department is 4 rooms.
The doctor speaks proudly about the progression of work in the department, starting with autologous marrow transplants for adults, and a few days ago performing the first such operation on a girl. He says that the next step they aspire to in the last quarter of 2025 is the department’s ability to perform marrow transplants from a donor, not Subjective.
Janazra says: “We are proud of the level we have reached in view of the outcomes of patients whose test indicators are positive after leaving our department… This service is qualitative at the national level, especially since it is provided in Jerusalem, and Palestinian patients were previously referred for these operations outside the country, and it is necessary.” It is the urgency that called us to take our steps forward despite the scarcity of resources and scarce capabilities.”
Strategic plan
Before leaving this department towards the hospital administration, Janazra pointed out that the Hematology Department receives 30% of the total patients who arrive at Al-Mutalaa Hospital in Jerusalem.
For his part, the Executive Director of Al-Mutalaa Hospital and Head of the Radiation Oncology Department, Dr. Fadi Al-Atrash, said – at the beginning of his speech to Al-Jazeera Net – that the reopening of the marrow transplantation department is considered a challenge and a confirmation of the status of Jerusalem and its health institutions as central institutions in the Palestinian health system.
He added that the main goal of Al-Mutalaa Hospital is to develop the service that the community and the Palestinian health system need to reduce dependence or the need for external systems, and that the hospital’s experience over more than a quarter of a century in treating various cancer diseases, and the presence of the blood department for 15 years, are the main motivation for launching bone marrow transplant operations. On a regular basis.
“We have developed a strategic plan to implement it over a period of 5 years, and it begins with autologous marrow transplants for adults and then for children, which was done a few days ago. By the end of 2025, we will be ready to perform marrow transplants from a donor, which is the most difficult step, and this step will be the first of its kind in Palestine.” With this, we will have closed 90% of the circle of care for blood diseases and cancer,” Al-Atrash explains.
With the launch of the marrow transplant service in Jerusalem, Al-Mutalaa Hospital saved about 40% of the cost of transferring patients abroad, so Al-Atrash considers the hospital to be part of the Palestinian national health system.
A qualitative leap with Qatari funding
Within the framework of the development plan, the hospital director touched on the Qatar Fund for Development’s donation to develop the radiation therapy department, to which the advanced “linear accelerator” device was introduced, which introduces artificial intelligence technology into radiation therapy.
Al-Atrash pointed out that basic building blocks have been laid in developing the department qualitatively, the first of which was in 2004 when it was established, then in 2011 and 2018, and in 2025 when the new device is operational, it will be the fourth turning point that will move the department from working with regular techniques to artificial intelligence technology.
The director of Al-Mutalaa Hospital added, “The importance of advanced devices lies in that they allow radiation to reach places that we could not reach technically previously. They can treat more than one site simultaneously and reduce side effects by reducing radiation to healthy organs. This gives a better quality of life for the patient and increases “The chance of his recovery and the chances of dealing with the disease.”
Regarding the other projects that the hospital aspires to, which will constitute a qualitative leap in its work, Al-Atrash pointed out the establishment of a complete wing to care for elderly Jerusalemites who have no options except within the settlements, where service is available and some are forced to go there.
He concluded by saying: “We have a long waiting list for the elderly patients’ department, and we were able to obtain a building permit, and we were about to launch the project, but due to the current circumstances and lack of funding, many projects were stalled, including this project.”