text of a leaflet distributed by Aotearoa Healthcare Workers for Palestine at the New Zealand Women in Medicine Conference 2024
EDUCATED HEALTH professionals are aware of the statistics – 735 healthcare workers killed in Gaza and the West Bank, according to the World Health Organisation, with a further 919 injured in Israeli attacks and 129 healthcare workers detained.
There are now over 120,000 fatalities and injuries – a majority of whom are women and children – in what the ICJ says are plausible acts of genocide. The WHO has also documented over a million cases of communicable diseases in Gaza since October.
Why are New Zealand’s medical colleges silent?
Of the 18 professional bodies belonging to the Council of Medical Colleges, 17 have made no public statement on the Gaza genocide, despite appeals from their own members. Specialist associations have been similarly silent. The contrast with the Russian invasion of Ukraine could not be starker.
Individual doctors who speak up face disciplinary proceedings. For the first seven months of war, the NZ Women in Medicine Facebook group banned all mention of Gaza – going as far as removing posts simply marking Ramadan.
Other health professional bodies have spoken out – Nurses, Midwives, Social Workers, Dieticians and other Allied Health groups. Māori health professional bodies have been vocal.
But all medical professionals have both moral and ethical obligations to advocate for the right to health in every instance where it does not exist, and for every human being it does not exist for.
The ongoing silence of our medical colleges is a stain on our profession. To restore our moral standing, we must speak up for our colleagues, for women and for the right to health for all in Gaza.
Besan’s story
THIRD YEAR medical student Besan Helassa posted about her hopes and fears on X last October. “I have dreams I have not yet fulfilled,” wrote the Palestinian trainee doctor. “I have a life that I have not fully lived. I have a family that I love and fear for.
“If we are all exterminated by this barbaric occupation, our crime is simply that one day we defended our land that was stolen from us and demanded our basic rights as human beings. We will not forgive the whole world.”
Besan died in an Israeli missile strike on her home on 14 October 2023. She was 19 years old.
Sign the open letter to medical bodies
A month ago, Aotearoa Healthcare Workers for Palestine wrote to the medical colleges and professional associations, calling on them to break the silence.
Our letter has been endorsed by:
– OraTaiao (NZ Climate and Health Council)
– Te Ohu Rata O Aotearoa (Te Ora – Māori Medical Practitioners Association)
– Māori Health Advisory Group (MHAG) of the Royal Australasian College of Surgeons (RACS)
– Te Kāhui Manukura O Kai Ora (Māori Dietitians Association)
Please amplify the call by adding your name to this letter.
Join Aotearoa Healthcare Workers for Palestine
AHW4P was formed in November 2023, around an open letter to the New Zealand Government. Signed by over 1,500 people, it demanded an immediate ceasefire and for all parties to uphold international humanitarian law.
AHW4P has a 14-member interim committee – made up of Doctors, Nurses, Health Care Assistants and Allied Health professionals from Tāmaki Makaurau down to Ōtautahi.
Our Chairperson is Dr Ruba Harfeil, a Palestinian GP in the Waikato.
Our mission statement acknowledges that the colonial violence in Aotearoa and Palestine is connected. We are holding our inaugural AGM in July. Apply to join at facebook.com/groups/ahw4p or email ahw4p2023@gmail.com.
Grant Brookes | Nurse & Trade Unionist 