We are no strangers to death but the misery of this Gaza war is the worst human suffering | Rachel Coghlan and Mhoira Leng
A 10-hour-old baby receives a death certificate but no birth certificate. When will this end?
I can't find the words. All I can say is that we are waiting death every second," our colleague Rewaa messages via WhatsApp. Families in Gaza are making daily decisions none of us sitting in the comfort of our homes can ever comprehend: to stay there or gamble moving somewhere else, to remain together or separate, to die as a unit or allow family lineage the best chance of enduring. Even stepping out to buy bread for undernourished bellies, or travelling to the border in an ambulance for urgent medical evacuation, now bring the very real risk of death.
We are palliative care practitioners who were scheduled to be in Gaza this week, to support palliative care education and mentoring of undergraduate medical students and postgraduate healthcare professionals. Palliative care is care - social, emotional, spiritual and physical - for a person and their family affected by serious illness and those at the end of their life, and bereavement care after somebody has died. This week, we were to celebrate our first diploma graduates with a joyous party at the Turkish-Palestinian Friendship hospital, Gaza's only dedicated cancer care centre.
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