“To manage this ophthalmology hospital you have to be a good administrator and good politician”. This is the conviction of Ahmed Ma’ali, executive director of Saint John of Jerusalem who runs the hospital complex dedicated exclusively to ophthalmology, the only one of its kind located in Palestinian territories, either in the Gaza Strip or in the West Bank. “It’s something complex,” he admits, in an interview with the Observer, the doctor who has worked at that institution for more than 33 years.
In Lisbon to receive the Champalimaud Vision 2023 award, Ahmed Ma’ali says that the distinction is an “honor and a privilege”, which motivates the team he leads to “do more”. “It is a global recognition of the humanitarian attention that we try to provide and for which we fight. Because this is a fight. It is a fight against blindness in a very complex and challenging environment ”, he affirms, indicating that the amount of one million euros that the hospital will receive will be invested to install a new hospital in the north of the West Bank, in Nablus. .
In a territory torn by a conflict that has lasted more than 75 years, Ahmed Ma’ali guarantees that the hospital has always been “apolitical”, refusing to favor any faction. “We have a good relationship with all the authorities, whether they are Israeli or Palestinian.”indicates, putting, however, a red line: “We have a policy in the hospital: we have no direct relationship with Hamas”.
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Source: Observadora
