reSee.it Podcast Summary
Dr. Aziz Raman describes a two‑week medical mission at Gaza’s last functioning hospital, Nasser Hospital. He explains he was selected through Rahma Worldwide from Milwaukee; twenty-two applicants competed, six were approved, 12 hours before departure. Travel involved Jordanian and Israeli checkpoints, turning a three‑hour link into a 14–16 hour journey. At the hospital, there were many international doctors; European General Hospital had been destroyed, forcing specialists to Nasser. He emphasizes Gaza’s scarce resources: medications, surgical equipment, blood, and ventilators, forcing difficult triage decisions.
He is an interventional radiologist, the first IR to Gaza, using image-guided, minimally invasive procedures. The ER runs green, yellow, red zones and a black zone for those unlikely to survive. In MCIs, the red zone becomes the trauma hub. The daily caseload includes gunshot wounds to the head/neck, blast injuries, burns, and shrapnel. He recalls an MCI with brain matter and exposed intestines, and chaotic arrivals as families carry patients through double doors into care. Staff slept in an international doctors’ lounge; locals cooked for them, while news circulated via balcony view. He notes UN data: about 500 health workers killed, 1,000 injured, 300 in custody. A pediatric hospital director, Husam Abu Safia, was jailed since December and then disappeared. The toll is personal: he lost 15 pounds; a 30‑year‑old pregnant woman required emergent surgery to remove a bullet; a 15‑year‑old survived after a pericardial drain; a one‑year‑old with 85% burns died.
He describes morgue scenes: families identify the dead; a gazebo near the ICU housed unclaimed bodies; grief is constant. Gazans express gratitude to outsiders who come to help; the reality, however, is that many feel unseen. He argues the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) is militarized, with private security contractors and oversight by American and Israeli governments, bypassing UN channels. He mentions allegations of aid diversion by gangs like Abu Shabab, while others dispute that. He calls for flooding Gaza with aid and reasserts that UN aid routes should be restored to keep Hamas from leverage. He critiques international politics: a June 2025 UN Security Council permanent ceasefire resolution was vetoed by the United States, despite 14 of 15 members voting in favor.
The conversation ends with acknowledgment of the humanity of Gazans, thanks to Theo, and a pledge to return if possible. Raman remembers a story of a smiling survivor, a reminder of personal moments of hope amid catastrophe, and emphasizes that the world must listen and that doctors and nurses deserve support to treat the uprooted population.