Israeli army denies entry to Gaza AIDS patient
AFP | 19.01.2006 00:15 | Health | Repression
JERUSALEM, Jan 17, 2006 (AFP) - A haemophiliac from Gaza City who has the AIDS virus has been denied entry by the army for treatment in Israel on three occasions despite warnings by doctors that his life is in danger, medics said on Tuesday.
The patient, who is in his 20s, contracted HIV from a blood transfusion during his childhood and had been treated regularly at the Tel Hashomer hospital in the southern Israeli city of Beersheva before the outbreak of the Palestinian uprising five years ago.
He has since been receiving standard treatment in Gaza City but six AIDS experts said in a petition that his condition had declined so sharply in recent weeks that he must be transferred back to Tel Hashomer.
Professor Zvi Bentwich, the founder of Israel's first AIDS clinic, said although the patient had yet to develop any potentially fatal infections, his immune deficiency was now so severe that such a situation was in prospect.
"He is at a very advanced stage of immune deficiency. His immune system is a shambles," Bentwich told AFP. "It is a very clear case of a very acute need for treatment."
A joint statement from Physicians for Human Rights-Israel and the Israel AIDS Task Force said three separate applications had been submitted to the military authorities since December 19 to allow the patient to cross but each one had been rejected.
Shabtai Gold, a spokesman for Physicians for Human Rights-Israel, said the army had broken its own rules by failing to attach its own medical opinion when declining entry.
"He was rejected in spite of the fact that he entered Israel many times in the past," said Gold.
Bentwich said the patient could only receive the necessary anti-viral treatment in Israel as the medical facilities were inadequate in Gaza while the possibility of being treated in Egypt or Jordan had also been ruled out.
"He is totally dependent at this time on getting that treatment in Israel," he told AFP.
An Israeli army spokesman would say only that the "Palestinian in question is barred from entering Israel for security reasons."
He has since been receiving standard treatment in Gaza City but six AIDS experts said in a petition that his condition had declined so sharply in recent weeks that he must be transferred back to Tel Hashomer.
Professor Zvi Bentwich, the founder of Israel's first AIDS clinic, said although the patient had yet to develop any potentially fatal infections, his immune deficiency was now so severe that such a situation was in prospect.
"He is at a very advanced stage of immune deficiency. His immune system is a shambles," Bentwich told AFP. "It is a very clear case of a very acute need for treatment."
A joint statement from Physicians for Human Rights-Israel and the Israel AIDS Task Force said three separate applications had been submitted to the military authorities since December 19 to allow the patient to cross but each one had been rejected.
Shabtai Gold, a spokesman for Physicians for Human Rights-Israel, said the army had broken its own rules by failing to attach its own medical opinion when declining entry.
"He was rejected in spite of the fact that he entered Israel many times in the past," said Gold.
Bentwich said the patient could only receive the necessary anti-viral treatment in Israel as the medical facilities were inadequate in Gaza while the possibility of being treated in Egypt or Jordan had also been ruled out.
"He is totally dependent at this time on getting that treatment in Israel," he told AFP.
An Israeli army spokesman would say only that the "Palestinian in question is barred from entering Israel for security reasons."
AFP