Australian doctors are providing free medical care for Palestinian refugees fleeing the ongoing war in Gaza.
Dr Mohamed Amr founded the Palestinian Australian New Zealand Medical Association (PANZMA) in 2020 to supply Palestine with medical equipment and professionals.
But since aid blockades have prevented PANZMA from sending additional support, Dr Amr said they now focus on taking care of Palestinians in Australia who have received “absolutely no support.”
Listen to The Briefing’s exclusive chat with Dr Mohamed Amr here:
“The mental trauma and the violent trauma that they’ve sustained in terms of injuries, physical injuries, you know, they could be as simple as just requiring a check-up because they haven’t seen a doctor since the war started.”
Dr Amr criticized the Australian government for not acting quickly enough to support Palestinian refugees coming from Gaza as the volunteers faced “compassion fatigue”.
“If you’re gonna talk about refugee rights, then the moment they need help, you have to provide that.”
According to Dr Amr, PANZMA has around 400 Palestinians registered for care and has provided care for over 2000 Palestinians “at no cost to them.”
“All of them just feel passionately about humanity and about the situation in Palestine. And they’ve, you know, exuberated that by giving pro bono work to all our patients.”
By Zack Goutzoulas, a Master of Journalism student at the University of Melbourne.