GAZA WISHLIST ‘SPREAD STATEWIDE’

The document detailing a $7.7m wishlist of medical equipment and medicines for Gaza under the banner of the state of Palestine has been spread across the Victorian health system.
Melbourne’s Royal Children’s Hospital staff have been told the document, a copy of which was found in a secure area at the hospital, has been found across the healthcare and not-for-profit sectors.
This was outlined during a staff meeting this week addressing a story in The Australian that revealed the document was found in a secure area at the children’s hospital
Its presence escalated concerns among Jewish staff that the RCH was being used by pro-Palestinian groups to provide aid to Gaza, which is against hospital rules.
The document says it ­relates to the October 7 invasion of Israel and refers in Arabic to ­“urgent need for hospitals in emergency situations’’, listing in detail demands to provide supplies for the Palestinian health ministry.
The RCH’s staff were told the hospital was not involved in forwarding medicines or equipment to Gaza, which has been ravaged by the war started after Hamas forces invaded Israel on October 7.
Executive Council of Australian Jewry co-chief executive Peter Wertheim said the presence of the document was concerning.
“The unexplained proliferation of documents from the Hamas-run Gaza health ministry in Australian hospitals and health institutions should be raising alarm bells with federal and state health regulators,’’ he said.
“Who is distributing these documents, and for what purpose? Why do some of these documents display the date ‘7-10-2023’, when Hamas carried out its atrocities in Israel?
“What is being done to investigate whether the hospital supplies listed in these documents have been stolen? There is no room in our country for the politicisation of our hospitals and clinics, especially in support of a designated terrorist organisation.
“Our health institutions should be devoted solely to delivering quality patient care and providing a safe and professional environment for patients and staff.
“No patient attending a hospital should have to wonder whether they will be discriminated against, or suffer a worse fate, on the basis of their ethnic or religious background.”
The document, seen by The Australian, included a request for medicines with catalogued prices, although hospital sources said the pricing appeared to be inflated, raising questions about whether it was a fundraiser as well as a means to obtain health items.
The document lists 58 different medical instruments and materials, plus a separate request for medicines and disposables ­including spinal needles and gastric tubes. It seeks items including instrument sets, pneumatic tourniquets, operating tables, beds, emergency trolleys and oxygen flow meters. It also seeks a large array of medicines, from painkillers to ultrasound gels and needles for spinal operations.
An RCH spokeswoman said: “We are continuing to investigate this matter and have addressed staff through our regular internal communication channels.”

“To be clear, the RCH has not and will not be donating any medical supplies to the conflict in the Middle East – there are established agencies who deliver medical aid to areas of conflict and it’s important we leave this responsibility with them.”
There is behind-the-scenes pressure to ensure any conflict between hospital staff with opposing views on the Middle East does not escalate. Jewish staff have been privately concerned about the overt campaigning of anti-Israel supporters that has included direct targeting of political and cultural opposites.
Police are concerned about the potential for illegal activities amid heightened angst over the rising death death toll in Gaza, where more than 33,000 people reportedly have died since last October.