Hornell Doctor back from Gaza describes 9-day medical mission
HORNELL, N.Y. (WETM) – A doctor from Hornell who recently returned from the war in Gaza is describing his nine-day medical relief mission.
“I was there just over a year ago. Now I returned to a completely different place. Unrecognizable, for the most part,” said Dr. Ismail Mehr, head of the Anesthesiology Department at the St. James Hospital in Hornell.
Dr. Mehr is also Chair of Medical Relief for the Islamic Medical Association of North America. Since 1967, the group says it has been working in war zones and natural disaster “providing medical assistance, relief aid, and healthcare services to those in need, irrespective of their creed, race or nationality.
Dr. Mehr grew up in the Southern Tier. He told us his family moved to the U.S. from Pakistan when he was one. Dr. Mehr says he has been on 36 medical missions around the world. This was his 5th trip to Gaza since 2009.
On April 15th, Dr. Mehr led a team of three other doctors into Gaza. IMANA says the team also included:
● Dr. Kanwal Chaudhry (New York, NY) specializes in emergency medicine and pediatrics.
She has embarked on 21 missions with IMANA.
● Dr. Azeem Elahi (Concord, NC) specializes in pulmonary and critical care. Committed to
global health care for the underserved, he has been to six nations to provide care.
● Dr. Shariq Sayeed (Marietta, GA) is board certified in vascular surgery. This is his fifth
medical mission.
Dr. Mehr says they headed to the last major hospital left standing in the Gaza Strip; the European Gaza Hospital near the devastated city of Khan Yunis.
“EGH is like a smaller regional hospital, and now it’s the main hospital in the entire strip,” Dr. Mehr said.
Half a year into the war in Gaza, here’s a look at the conflict by the numbers
“It’s bursting at the seams. It’s probably 200-300 percent past capacity. We saw something I’ve never seen in Palestine before with all my numerous visits. There’s 30,000 people who are living either inside or around the hospital. It’s a center of refuge where people are camped out in tents. It’s like a tent village around the hospital. It was something I’ve never seen before and I’ve been to Sudan, Somalia, Yemen, Syria, Bangladesh, you know, I’ve been to a lot of different places with the people were in dire need,” Dr. Mehr said.
“First thing that stunned me was the number of amputees as we were walking around and getting ready to go into the hospital,” Dr. Mehr added. The number of children and adults that are missing one limb or two limbs. It seemed like every other person I saw was an amputee, which was just devastating to see especially when you see children that way.”
Dr. Mehr says the European Gaza Hospital is among only 4 medical facilities still operating in Gaza. He says three other smaller hospitals are located in the border city of Rafah, which has swelled in size with more than one million displaced Palestinians.
“The real importance was giving local doctors a break; they’ve been at this non-stop for 200 days. I was in the operating room doing surgeries, as an anesthesiologist providing the anesthetic care,” Dr. Mehr said.
As Dr. Mehr’s team worked to save lives; they could hear explosions just over a mile away.
“There were a few times that we’d be asleep in the middle night at two in the morning and it was what I assume would be a missile strike, because the impact was loud enough and the blast of it was strong enough that it would shake your room and you’d wake up,” said Dr. Mehr. “We got very used to the humming and buzzing of drones. We would hear artillery fire at night tanks firing. In those 9 days we became accustomed to those sounds, and it was just another day in Gaza.”
Dr. Mehr says healthcare in Gaza right now is “basically just about non-existent.” He says many lives are being lost that could have been saved.
“Every day we declared multiple patients, four to five every day, who were passing away from very common, very preventable, very treatable ailments.”
Dr. Mehr is now back in Hornell treating patients at St. James Hospital. I asked him what it has been like to return home from a war zone.
“I think the hardest transition for me has been and really I’ve struggled with, is the children. Every day we would have children holding our hands laughing, hugging us because I think you know, we gave them genuine love. We took the time to speak with them and talk to them. Even though we don’t speak Arabic and speak the language, the one language I think everyone understands is love and the children would uplift us after a tough day in the emergency room. I think the transition this time it’s worry and feeling about them at every moment that I hope they’re alive.
Before our interview ended, Dr. Mehr wanted to share a message from a young girl in Gaza.
“There’s a young girl who is an amazing artist who lived in a tent. She made drawings for each one of us doctors. She drew this. She spoke perfect English. She’s lost her home. She’s lost her siblings, lost everything but, she wanted to share this message: If you cannot lift the injustice, at least tell everyone about Palestine. I told her I would do that, so thank you.
So far in 2024, the Islamic Medical Association of North America, or IMANA, says it has delivered nearly 130 tons of food and medical supplies to Gaza. Efforts that are “in the works” for the rest of the year include a 5-member team that will travel to the European Gaza Hospital soon after Eid, shipping 43 tons of essential medical supplies for disaster triage and field emergency response, and establishing a maternity unit at the Kuwait Hospital in Rafah.
Dr. Mehr says he also plans on going back. For now, he continues to coordinate medical teams that deploy to the war zone.
To learn more about the Islamic Medical Association of North America, visit its website here.
You can watch the full interview with Dr. Mehr below:
For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to WETM - MyTwinTiers.com.
