


Transporting Nablus patient to Hadassah for treatment.


Hilmi Hasan, age 27, was shot in the abdomen during clashes among Palestinians, Israeli settlers, and the Israel Defense Forces in a village near Nablus. When his condition deteriorated, the young man's doctors decided that he needed a more advanced medical facility and Hadassah was their first choice. Since the patient was on a respirator and anesthetized and the Nablus hospital did not have the required equipment for such travel, it was necessary that an Israeli physician come to Nablus to prepare the patient for the trip and monitor him during his transit to Hadassah.

Dr. Micha Shamir, a senior Hadassah anesthesiologist with extensive experience in medical transfers, was approached and agreed immediately to go. Previously, Dr. Shamir helped to bring back an Israeli reporter who was wounded while working in Georgia and escorted a young Cincinnati, Ohio woman from Israel to New York for a liver transplantation.

Because Israelis are not allowed to go into the Palestinian-controlled West Bank, Hadassah had to coordinate with various authorities amidst the tense atmosphere in the area and recent increased level of hostilities. A Palestinian car, escorted by Palestinian security officers, took Dr. Shamir, a paramedic, and the Israeli Civil Administration Health Coordinator to the hospital in Nablus. In Nablus, Dr. Shamir orchestrated the preparation of the patient, who was then put into a Palestinian Red Crescent ambulance. Heavily escorted by Palestinian Police, the group traveled to a checkpoint outside Nablus, where an Israeli Air Force helicopter was waiting to fly them to Hadassah.

"At no time were we under any real threat," commented Dr. Shamir. "We were guarded by so many policemen and security people; the convoy was much longer than the Prime Minister's convoy."

Hilmi Hasan was taken to Hadassah-Ein Kerem's Intensive Care Unit. His condition, as of this writing, is critical, but stable.

Read about it in The Jerusalem Post>>

Read about it in the Jewish Press>>
Date: 2/25/2013
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