2022-08-22

West bank

West Bank

MUSAWA’s memo to the Palestinian Minister of Health on the right to health for Bedouin residents

Honorable Minister of Health

Honorable Dr. May Al-Kaila- Ramallah,

MUSAWA - The Palestinian Center for the Independence of the Judiciary and the Legal Profession, expands its greeting, and based on the outcomes of the consultative meetings organized by the Center in three Bedouin communities (Ain Samiya, Ras Al-Ayn and Wadi Al-Siq), on the constitutional rights of Palestinian Bedouin citizens, these meetings revealed grave violations of the rights of the Bedouins who still suffer from grave deprivation from the requirements of their health security and human dignity, as the residents of Ain Samiya community, Ras Al-Ayn Al-Auja community and Wadi al-Siq community reported that they did not benefit from the government health insurance system, which the authority refuses to apply to them, which incurs them expensive treatment costs, in addition to the lack of medical centers in these communities, which force people to move to medical centers located in neighboring villages and cities. For example, patients in Ain Samiya community are forced to go to the medical center in Silwad, patients in Ras al-Ayn community are forced to receive treatment at Jericho Governmental Hospital, and single youth in the Wadi Al-Siq community are to receive treatment at their personal expense, because the Wall Insurance System does not cover single people.

According to the residents of the three communities, they do not have a fixed or even mobile health clinic, the ambulance does not reach them even in emergency cases, and health treatments such as check-ups and vaccinations are not available in their communities, noting that the residents of the Ras al-Ayn community used to receive medical services through a mobile clinic affiliated with the Islah Al-Haya Association four years ago, and since then hey still suffer from the absence of such clinics, as the situation in the Wadi al-Siq community, where there was a mobile clinic belonging to the UNRWA that was closed since the beginning of the Corona virus crisis and is still closed, although its services are limited to providing painkillers, and the families receive treatment at the health center in Taybeh, at their expense, with the restriction not to purchase medicine from it.

This is not limited to depriving citizens are deprived from providing basic health requirements only, but they also complain about the high costs of treatment of their livestock such as sheep, and the government's lack of support for medicines for their treatment, and the provision of tools for examining sheep samples quickly to avoid damage to their samples.

Referring to the suffering of the people of other Bedouin communities, such as the Arab Al-Malihat community and the Zubaidat community; who are not in a better condition than the residents of the three communities and suffer from similar health deprivations. We believe that a responsible stance on the health suffering of the Palestinian Bedouin citizens indicates the absence of a will to address the deficiencies within the reach of your ministry, since in addition to responding to their natural health demands, which would enhance their national steadfastness and survival, protecting the homeland and its identity; is possible and even obligatory in implementation of the principle of equality and in order to preserve the right to life, which are two constitutional principles that are clearly stated in the Basic Law that do not accept interpretation or explanation. It is an obligation on your ministry to provide social and health insurance services in accordance with the provisions of the first paragraph of Article (22) of the Basic Law, which requires amending health and social insurance systems to include all citizens, including Bedouins, without restriction or exception.

We demand to include in your ministry’s programs and development plans for the health sector providing fixed and mobile medical clinics in every Palestinian community, whatever its name or location, and support programs for providing free medicine, and those medicines that require special government support so that citizens can obtain them easily.

Accordingly, and based on what the citizens expressed in the three Bedouin regions, which we see as their right and your duty, we ask you to organize specialized field visits to Bedouin communities, to identify the health needs of each of them, and to work to provide them without delay, and to listen to the citizens’ sufferings in terms of health and the things that threaten their livestock and protect them from the diseases that affect them, and take the necessary preventive measures to prevent such.

With respect,,

Published on: 21.08.2022

MUSAWA