ELCA NEWS SERVICE
April 4, 2006
Augusta Victoria Hospital Financial Situation Dire; ELCA Provides Grant
06-054-JB
CHICAGO (ELCA) -- International Disaster Response of the
Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) released an initial
$100,000 grant March 31 for emergency financial support of
Augusta Victoria Hospital (AVH) in East Jerusalem. The hospital,
operated by the Lutheran World Federation (LWF), is dealing with
a financial crisis because a significant source of its funding
through the Palestinian Authority is gone.
Important funding sources -- including the governments of
the United States, Canada and the European Union -- are
withholding money from the Palestinian Authority because its new
political leadership is affiliated with Hamas, said Dr. Tawfiq
Nasser, AVH chief executive officer. Many world leaders say
Hamas is a terrorist organization.
"One thing that was not realized is that the Palestinian
Authority as the government is the largest service provider,"
Nasser said in a March 31 interview with the ELCA News Service.
"Palestinian civil society is completely dependent on services
that are provided by the government." The funding boycott has
put the hospital "in a difficult position," Nasser said.
The ELCA responded to an international appeal for funds from
Action by Churches Together (ACT), said Dr. Belletech Deressa,
director for international development and disaster response,
ELCA Global Mission. ACT is asking its partner organizations to
assist AVH financially for the next six months, she said.
ACT is a worldwide network of churches and related agencies
that meets human need through organized emergency response. It
is based with the World Council of Churches (WCC) and the LWF,
Geneva, Switzerland. The ELCA is a member of the LWF and WCC.
The Evangelical Lutheran Church in Canada (ELCIC) responded
April 3 to the appeal with a $50,000 (U.S.) grant. Lutheran World
Relief (LWR), the international relief and development
organization of the ELCA and Lutheran Church-Missouri-Synod,
Baltimore, also responded to the appeal, providing a $75,000
grant. Other churches or church-related agencies are considering
grants, Nasser said.
The hospital provides cancer care, pediatric kidney dialysis
and many other medical and health services to its patients, most
of whom are Palestinians, Deressa said. At the moment, AVH is
the only specialized treatment center for pediatric dialysis and
radiation oncology for Palestinians in the occupied Palestinian
Territories, she said.
Nasser explained that AVH has a significant contract with
the Palestinian Authority insurance program that provides
catastrophic care coverage. Because funding for that program has
been stopped, the insurer went bankrupt, he said.
The result is the hospital has no insurance entity to bill
for services, yet patients need treatment.
"It's very unethical and illegal to stop the treatment of
these patients," Nasser said. "On the other hand we are
officially informed that their insurer cannot pay the bills. So
what do you do?"
In addition to the financial problem, Palestinian access to
the hospital, which has always been a difficult, has been
reduced, creating what Nasser called "a near-impossible
situation."
AVH could not meet its payroll for the past two months, and
some staff, including physicians, have left, Nasser said.
The hospital expects to lose about $296,000 per month in
insurance funds, Nasser said. The ACT appeal seeks a total of
$1.3 million for six months to keep the hospital functioning, he
said. The funds are needed very soon, Nasser warned.
"I think that if we don't get this aid between now and (the
next) two to three weeks, then the hospital will be in a position
where we cannot treat patients," he said. "The window we have now
is about three weeks at max, and then the hospital will start
going through a serious situation of collapse."
If the hospital can secure the funds, Nasser said he and his
staff will have some time to figure out how they can secure
funding for the future.
"My main worry, as a person who is trained in the
biomedical/clinical field and also is responsible for the
hospital management side, is that I don't interrupt services,"
Nasser said. "If we reach a point where we are interrupting
services and we are refusing to treat patients, we create a near-
disaster situation."
Nasser is also concerned about the effect of the hospital's
financial situation on the outcome of an LWF tax case with the
State of Israel. AVH was already facing the possibility of
paying hundreds of thousands of dollars in taxes to the State of
Israel.
In court proceedings in 2002 Israel sought to void a long-
standing tax exemption the LWF has had for its humanitarian and
health care activities in the region since 1966.
Israel won the case in 2002. The LWF appealed the verdict to
the Israeli Supreme Court, and the next court date is in May. LWF
leaders are concerned the hospital's future may be jeopardized if
the LWF loses the appeal. Nasser also believes that if the
hospital cannot operate because of the current funding emergency,
it could lose the tax case.
In remarks to the ELCA Church Council meeting here April 1,
the Rev. Mark S. Hanson, ELCA presiding bishop and LWF president,
said the "very viability" of the hospital is at stake because of
the loss of funds and the pending tax case. He said the hospital
situation must be resolved immediately for the sake of the
Palestinian people.
Hanson also told the council that the ELCA and others need
to press U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice to intervene.
Following his visit to the ELCA churchwide office here,
Nasser traveled to meet with officials of the ELCIC. He is
planning to meet with officials in Washington, D.C., and visit
congregations in Maryland and Virginia to explain AVH's current
needs and seek possible funding. Nasser also plans to meet with
LWR officials before returning home.
---
Information about Augusta Victoria Hospital is at
http://www.avh.org/ on the Web.
INTERNATIONAL DISASTERS:
Editors: When listing organizations receiving funds for aid to
survivors of major disasters outside the United States, Puerto
Rico or the U.S. Virgin Islands, please include:
ELCA International Disaster Response, PO Box 71764, Chicago, IL
60694-1764, 1-800-638-3522 and
http://www.ELCA.org/disaster/idrgive on the Internet.
For information contact:
John Brooks, Director (773) 380-2958 or [log in to unmask]
http://www.elca.org/news
ELCA News Blog: http://www.elca.org/news/blog
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