U.S. surgeons in Gaza for medical intervention

Reuters reported in August 2023 on a team of U.S. orthopedic surgeons visiting the Gaza Strip to perform joint replacement operations and train local doctors. The report, by Nidal al-Mughrabi, was carried by WSAU, a radio station in Wausau, Wisconsin. Reuters says the five-day mission aimed to operate on 150 patients, train local surgeons and donate $4 million worth of equipment. The visit was hosted by the Gaza health ministry, and Reuters says patients faced long waiting lists for orthopedic surgery.

FAJR’s part in this

Reuters names Khaled Saleh as president of the U.S.-based non-profit Fajr Scientific. He said the visit would help patients immobilized by joint problems and chronic pain, as well as people in wheelchairs or who use a cane to walk. “Our hope is to restore their function and in doing so restore their hope in the fact that they can be active members of their families and their society,” Saleh said as he left a surgery theater at Nasser Hospital in southern Gaza.

Fajr Scientific chief executive Mosab Nasser said the visit was meant to build up the local surgical teams. “The purpose is not only to do the surgeries by themselves, as much as it is training and building the local capabilities so they will also be a help in doing more surgeries as we progress,” he said.

Reuters also spoke to a 57-year-old patient who had waited three years for a knee joint replacement because she could not afford treatment outside Gaza. A day after her operation she told the agency: “I am hopeful. They told me I would soon walk without pain and that I would not have to worry about losing my knee.”

Reuters refers to the organization as Fajr Scientific. Read the full Reuters story on WSAU.