WEST BANK: Doors open at medical centres in West Bank refugee camps as UNRWA (United Nations Relief and Works Agency) workers end their two month strike

Record ID: 564906

  • Title: WEST BANK: Doors open at medical centres in West Bank refugee camps as UNRWA (United Nations Relief and Works Agency) workers end their two month strike
  • Date: 11th February 2014
  • Summary: AL FAWWAR REFUGEE CAMP NEAR HEBRON, WEST BANK (FEBRUARY 10, 2014) (REUTERS) VARIOUS OF REFUGEE CAMP EXTERIOR OF UNITED NATIONS RELIEF AND WORKS AGENCY (UNRWA) MEDICAL CENTRE SIGN READING (Arabic and English): "AL FAWWAR MEDICAL CENTRE" (SOUNDBITE) (Arabic) REFUGEE, TALIB ABU LIHYAH, SAYING: "This is the first day we have come here, it is the first day. For two months I did not receive my medicine." (Reporter asking: are you happy?) "Of course I am happy. I want them to give us more services as some medicine is still missing." VARIOUS OF WOMEN WITH CHILDREN IN WAITING ROOM (SOUNDBITE) (Arabic) REFUGEE, TALIB ABU LIHYAH, SAYING: "In the past two months we were affected badly, the people do not have money and the situation is bad, no work, nothing to do. Most people felt sick because we used to get medicine from here monthly and some get it daily. The strike affected us." JALAZONE REFUGEE CAMP NEAR RAMALLAH, WEST BANK (RECENT) (REUTERS) PEOPLE IN STREET SIGN READING (Arabic): "MEDICAL WORK DAY" VARIOUS OF VOLUNTEERS WEARING ORANGE VESTS WORKING VARIOUS OF VOLUNTEER DOCTOR CHECKING CHILD (SOUNDBITE) (Arabic) HEAD OF HEALTH WORK COMMITTEES ORGANISATION, SHATHA OUDAH, SAYING: "The nurses, doctors and the specialists replied to our call to volunteer for this medical work day to help our family in Jalazone refugee camp, to compensate them for the services that they were unable to get for more than 65 days. This is part of our role to always be ready to serve the Palestinian community." VARIOUS OF MEDICINE BOXES ON TABLE (SOUNDBITE) (Arabic) HEAD OF PUBLIC RELATIONS DEPARTMENT AT BIRZEIT PHARMACEUTICAL COMPANY, ALIA NASIR ALDEEN, SAYING: "This is our responsibility towards our country in any place, in the refugee camps and other places, to give medicine in co-operation with the Health Work Committees Organisation and the doctors who volunteer to come and check the sick people, and we gave the medicine for free." VARIOUS OF DOCTOR CHECKING CHILD CHILDREN VOLUNTEERS (SOUNDBITE) (Arabic) RESIDENT FROM JALAZONE REFUGEE CAMP, UM MAHOUD, SAYING: "We thank all the organisations that volunteered in the camp for their support to our people in Jalazone." SIGN READING (Arabic and English): "UNRWA, JALAZONE CAMP SERVICES" GARBAGE OUTSIDE UNRWA CENTRE VEHICLES IN STREET VARIOUS OF GARBAGE SITE
  • Embargoed: 26th February 2014 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: West bank
  • City:
  • Country: Palestinian Territories
  • Topics: Health,Employment,Politics
  • Reuters ID: LVAOM9QG3XWTW75TVOMXL6UCGOI
  • Story Text: Workers from the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) in West Bank refugee camps returned to work on Sunday (February 9), restoring services after a two-month strike.
    Around 6,000 UNRWA employees who provide medical, educational and municipal services to 800,000 refugees had stopped work mainly in protest against salaries they said were below average.
    In the West Bank there are around 19 refugee camps.
    At the Al Fawwar refugee camp, near Hebron, the doors of the local medical centre opened again on Monday (February 10).
    Camp resident Talib Abu Lihyah said that refugees had been without medication for more than two months.
    "This is the first day we have come here, it is the first day. For two months I did not receive my medicine... I am happy. I want them to give us more services as some medicine is still missing," he said.
    "In the past two months we were affected badly, the people do not have money and the situation is bad, no work, nothing to do. Most people felt sick because we used to get medicine from here monthly and some get it daily," he added.
    UNRWA released a statement on Thursday (February 6) saying that a framework document had been signed between the organisation and the union allowing for future discussions and the immediate resumption of services. It added that it deeply regretted the impact on local residents.
    But in the Jalazone refugee camp near Ramallah, volunteers were not prepared to wait until the strike ended to assist local residents.
    On Friday (February 7) profit and non-profit organisations spent the day providing medical services, handing out medicines to refugees and picking up garbage.
    Head of the Health Work Committees Organisation, Shatha Oudah, co-ordinated the volunteer day.
    "The nurses, doctors and the specialists replied to our call to volunteer for this medical work day to help our family in Jalazone refugee camp, to compensate them for the services that they were unable to get for more than 65 days. This is part of our role to always be ready to serve the Palestinian community," she said.
    One of the organisations that offered its help was local Palestinian company Birzeit Pharmaceutical.
    "This is our responsibility toward our country in any place, in the refugee camps and other places, to give medicine in co-operation with the Health Work Committees Organisation and the doctors who volunteer to come and check the sick people, and we gave the medicine for free," said the company's public relations spokesperson Alia Nasir Aldeen.
    Resident Um Mahoud said she was glad about the initiative.
    "We thank all the organisations that volunteered in the camp for their support to our people in Jalazone,'' she said.
    UNRWA was established in 1949 to provide services to Palestinian refugees who were forced or fled from their homes during the 1948 Middle East war that saw the establishment of the state of Israel.
    Today UNRWA provides services to some five million refugees and their descendants across the Middle East.
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