(Adnkronos) – Following a request from doctors in the occupied Palestinian territories, Italy will host an initial group of 21 Palestinian children with cancer while efforts are already underway in some regions and university hospitals to mobilise for international assistance, the foreign ministry said in a statement on Wednesday.
The announcement came after foreign minister Antonio Tajani chaired a roundtable in Rome aimed at ramping up the ‘Food for Gaza’ scheme which Italy is coordinating with two UN agencies in Rome, the Red Cross and the Red Crescent.
The roundtable centred on immediate healthcare assistance for the population of the war-devastated Gaza Strip. It also follows a visit to the region by Tajani on Monday during which he announced a new 10 million euro emergency funding package, the statement noted.
The statement said Wednesday’s meeting “marked the beginning of a new phase in support for the population in the Middle East, aiming at reconstructing the social fabric of the Gaza Strip” in the wake of the US-brokered ceasefire between Israel and Gaza-ruling Palestinian Islamist group Hamas, which entered into force on Sunday.
Tajani is due to visit Ashdod port in the next few weeks for the arrival of a ship delivering 15 trucks donated to the UN World Food Programme and 15 tonnes of new emergency medical supplies, according to the statement.
Antonella Polimeni, Rector of the Sapienza University of Rome, presented an initial healthcare action plan to be undertaken by the university hospitals involved in supporting Gaza’s population.
The Italian universities said they would like to propose a project that has as its general objective to give support to the health needs of the maternal-child population of Gaza.
The project foresees: the deployment of specialised medical personnel; multidisciplinary teams of hygienists/infectious disease specialists, obstetricians-gynaecologists, surgeons, orthopaedists, neurologists/psychiatrists, gastroenterologists, psychologists, nutritionists, nurses, and cultural mediators.
Installation of local IT systems will enable continuous telemedicine and teleconsultation links between the Gazan population, local operators, and Sapienza specialists, supporting care and monitoring the population’s needs in real time, said the statement.
Fundraising campaigns will collect funds, medications, and medical equipment to be sent to personnel working in Gaza.
Roundtable participants described the current situation in Gaza as “post-war,” marked by extensive physical destruction of service facilities, instability in essential supplies, and with most of the population having been forced to flee their homes, the statement said.
“In this context, targeted measures are essential to prevent outbreaks of epidemics, including waterborne diseases, vaccine-preventable infectious diseases, and skin diseases,” the statement concluded.
