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Medical duty and advocacy for Palestine

2024; Elsevier BV; Volume: 403; Issue: 10424 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1016/s0140-6736(24)00012-6

1474-547X

Roghieh Dehghan, James R. Smith, Hina J Shahid, D. W. Hadley, Bryony Hopkinshaw,

Global Security and Public Health

As a group of multidisciplinary doctors who regularly organise health worker blocs at the national demonstrations for Palestine in London, we wish to illuminate how our professional values inspire our participation in a movement that calls for an immediate end to violence and the pursuit of justice in Palestine. Since the escalation of Israel's violence in Gaza and the West Bank on Oct 7, 2023, at least 22 438 Palestinians have been killed and 1·9 million displaced, with 364 attacks on health workers and infrastructure. Israel's renewed blockade has led to shortages of food, water, medical supplies, and other forms of life-sustaining assistance, creating a health-care crisis and a surge in infectious diseases.1United Nations Office for Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs Hostilities in the Gaza Strip and Israel: flash update #84.https://www.ochaopt.org/content/hostilities-gaza-strip-and-israel-flash-update-84Date: Jan 4, 2024Date accessed: January 5, 2024Google Scholar, 2Masoud B Salem S Gaza faces "perfect storm" of deadline diseases. Reuters.https://www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/gaza-faces-perfect-storm-deadly-diseases-2023-12-14/Date: Dec 14, 2023Date accessed: January 5, 2024Google Scholar Although medical neutrality—impartial "care given based on criteria of medical need and urgency"3List JM Medical neutrality and political activism: physicians' roles in conflict situations.in: Allhoff F Physicians at war: international library of ethics, law, and the new, vol 41. Springer, Dordrecht2008: 237-254Crossref Google Scholar—remains essential to our profession, a moral imperative exists for physicians to engage in political activism in the face of human rights violations and war crimes committed by Israel. This duty arises from principles such as respect for life, beneficence, and justice, alongside a commitment to addressing the root causes of ill health. Therefore, it becomes our responsibility to raise our voices and advocate for the safety, dignity, and rights of the Palestinian people. Another cornerstone of our activism is our solidarity with medical colleagues in Gaza. At the time of writing, 374 health-care workers have been killed,4Healthcare Workers Watch—Palestine List of healthcare workers killed by Israel attacks on Palestine since October 7, 2023.https://x.com/HCWWatch/status/1742362652951588960Date: Jan 3, 2024Date accessed: January 8, 2024Google Scholar and many others detained without information on their whereabouts.2Masoud B Salem S Gaza faces "perfect storm" of deadline diseases. Reuters.https://www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/gaza-faces-perfect-storm-deadly-diseases-2023-12-14/Date: Dec 14, 2023Date accessed: January 5, 2024Google Scholar Our solidarity with these colleagues stems from our deep professional identity beyond national boundaries that provides us with shared culture and ethics. Many health-care workers in Gaza have had to make impossible choices between their own survival and staying to care for their patients. Many have been repeatedly displaced and yet continue to provide care under the most austere personal and professional circumstances. We challenge dehumanising and neo-orientalist narratives that seek to incite violence against Palestinian health-care workers and the Palestinian people more generally.5Turfah M No side to fall in: medical neutrality in Gaza. The Baffler.https://thebaffler.com/latest/no-side-to-fall-in-turfahDate: Dec 15, 2023Date accessed: December 29, 2023Google Scholar Solidarity demands a moral and political response to injustice and suffering. In today's divisive climate of nationalism and populism, medical ethics serve as our moral guide. Our intimate understanding of human vulnerability through our practice reinforces our duty to advocate for humanity. We march to remind our political leaders and the public that "a doctor's right to treat, unhindered, requires a people's right to live. A people's right to live requires they be seen as such."5Turfah M No side to fall in: medical neutrality in Gaza. The Baffler.https://thebaffler.com/latest/no-side-to-fall-in-turfahDate: Dec 15, 2023Date accessed: December 29, 2023Google Scholar JS is a Medact trustee. All other authors declare no competing interests. Editorial note: The Lancet Group takes a neutral position with respect to territorial claims in published text and institutional affiliations.