HaEmek Medical Center

Front view of the HaEmek Medical Center Campus

HaEmek Medical Center (Hebrew: מרכז רפואי העמק, Merkaz refu'i ha-Emek) is a hospital in the northern Israeli town of Afula.

History

The origins of this medical institution date back to 1924. The hospital was opened on April 29, 1930. In 1932 it was temporarily closed due to lack of funds.[1] Through the years the hospital gradually grew into one of the biggest medical facilities in Israel. Nowadays the hospital serves about 500,000 residents of the adjacent region. The hospital has about 1,900 employees.[2]

The hospital is located at an altitude of about 1500 meters southeast of Afula next to Highway No. 65.[3]

The hospital is said to be a place of Arab-Israeli co-existence, and the two peoples work closely together. [4]

On 22 January 2016, Amnesty International issued a statement condemning the forcible treatment of the Palestinian journalist Muhammad al-Qiq at HaEmek Medical Center. Muhammed al-Qiq had been arrested and held without charge or trial under “administrative detention” since 25 November 2015 and began a hunger strike to protest his detention on secret evidence, without charge or trial, and demanding his release. According to his lawyer and the Palestinian prisoners’ rights organization Addammeer, he was tortured by the Israel Security Agency and denied access to his lawyer. He was transferred to a prison hospital in Ramleh and on 30 September, he was transferred to HaEmek Medical Center, where he was shackled to a bed, forcibly examined and treated, not allowed to leave his bed for several days, not even to be taken to the bathroom or shower. On 15 January, he collapsed and was transferred to an intensive care unit and forcibly treated again.[5] According to Physicians for Human Rights – Israel, on 4 February, an independent doctor visited al-Qiq at the hospital and said that he appears to be close to death. The hospital ethics committee recommended to continue forcibly treating al-Qiq, but at this point the medical team that had previously forcibly treated him, now decided to disregard the recommendation.[6] On January 26th, journalists and Knesset members protested outside the hospital demanding the release of al-Qiq.[7]

See also

References

  1. ↑ http://www.clalit.co.il/HE-IL/english/about+clalit+health+services.htm#q1
  2. ↑ דף הבית
  3. ↑ עמוד ענן - המדריך השיתופי לידיעת הארץ
  4. ↑
  5. ↑ Israel must end ill-treatment of hunger-striking Palestinian detainee Amnesty International, 22 January 2016.
  6. ↑ Israel/OPT: Palestinian hunger-striking detainee close to death Amnesty International, 8 February 2016;
    Ben Norton: Palestinian journalist imprisoned by Israel without trial on verge of death, entering third month of hunger strike Salon, 29 January 2016;
    Noam Rotem: [Hunger striking Palestinian journalist accuses hospital of forced treatment] +972 Magazine, 24 January 2016;
    Ehab Zahriyeh: [Palestinian journalist to continue hunger strike despite risk of death] AlJazeera, 28 January 2016;
    Oren Ziv, Yael Marom: Hunger striking Palestinian journalist is dying, lawyer says +972 Magazine, 9 February 2016.
  7. ↑ Haggai Matar: Journalists protest for release of hunger striking Palestinian +972 Magazine, 9 February 2016.

External links

Coordinates: 32°37′19.88″N 35°19′0.7″E / 32.6221889°N 35.316861°E / 32.6221889; 35.316861

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