Support Palestinian Hospitals

Support Palestinian Hospitals

Ask Congress to meet an urgent humanitarian need of the Palestinian people by supporting Augusta Victoria Hospital and other East Jerusalem hospitals.

Global Ministries is partners with the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America and the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Jordan and the Holy Land, and the Augusta Victoria Hospital is vital healthcare institution in the Palestinian community.

Located on the Mount of Olives, Augusta Victoria Hospital is operated by The Lutheran World Federation (LWF) in Jerusalem. It started in partnership with the U.N. Relief and Works Agency in 1948 as a major medical facility in Jerusalem to care for Palestinian refugees. Today, most of the patients served by the hospital continue to be in social need and are seeking life-saving specialized care.

Augusta Victoria is the first and only hospital to provide radiation therapy for cancer patients in the Palestinian territories and is the only medical facility in the West Bank offering pediatric kidney dialysis. On a daily basis, these and other specialty services touch countless lives, both young and old, from communities across the Palestinian territories.

Augusta Victoria Hospital faces on-going cash-flow problems as a result of the inability of the Palestinian Authority (PA) to pay on a regular basis the fees of cancer patients it refers to the hospital.

The hospital has received vital support from the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) in recent years (nearly $10 million in cancer-related machines, lab equipment, and training), which has helped raise the level of cancer treatment available through Augusta Victoria Hospital for Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza.

At the same time, the costs for patients referred to Augusta Victoria Hospital continue to mount at the rate of $2.5 million per month, and another U.S. Agency for International Development payment is needed in 2016. Toward the end of 2016, it is hoped that USAID will make a large payment to the Palestinian Authority designated for AVH and the other East Jerusalem hospitals.

Therefore, advocacy in Congress is still needed to ensure that the U.S. government through USAID releases a large payment for the East Jerusalem hospitals in the fall of 2016. The U.S. must transfer 2016 allocations to the U.S. Agency for International Development in order  These allocations are needed to cover at least 50 percent of the Palestinian Authority debt to Augusta Victoria Hospital and the other East Jerusalem hospitals. The funding is crucial to avoid any interruption of treatment for West Bank and Gaza cancer patients and other patients served at AVH and other East Jerusalem hospitals.

Call the U.S. Capitol switchboard at 202-224-3121 to be connected to your Senator’s or Representative’s office.

Ask your Members of Congress to meet the urgent humanitarian needs of the Palestinian people by

  • Urging them to support the U.S. government assistance to Augusta Victoria Hospital (AVH) in order to help cover the cancer treatment costs of Palestinian patients from the West Bank and Gaza treated at AVH.

  • Encouraging them to visit the Augusta Victoria Hospital in Jerusalem to see first-hand the important work that is being done and the partnership with the U.S. Government through USAID.

For more information:

Lutheran World Federation, Augusta Victoria Hospital