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Al-Shifa Maternity Hospital is the main hospital in the Gaza Strip. On average, the facility receives about 50-60 delivery cases per day, despite there only being six delivery beds in early 2007.  The shortage in beds compared to the number of deliveries needed forced doctors to perform deliveries on desks, tables, and sometimes even the floor.

"Women used not only to suffer the pain of giving birth but they suffered from the improper atmosphere of the maternity hospital," said Dr. Akram Sheik Khalil, of the maternity department at Al-Shifa Hospital.

In the Gaza Strip, there are only three hospitals which offer maternity services: Al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza City, Naser Hospital in Khan Younis and a European Hospital in Rafah.

The Maternity ward at Al-Shifa is the largest in the Gaza Strip and serves patients from Gaza City, the middle camps, the northern areas and sometimes more critical cases from the southern areas. Many of the delivery cases from the other areas get transferred to Al-Shifa because of patient’s inability to afford the other hospital’s services.

Despite the volume of people seeking maternity care from Al-Shifa, the hospital has few accommodations, lacking delivery beds, proper medical equipment, and functional seating for patients waiting to be seen.

"When we visited the maternity hospital, we saw unclean walls, old and almost ruined furniture; we saw family members waiting out of the operations room and there are few benches which were not enough and not proper to sit on," said Salah Tayeh, manager of Islamic Relief’s Development Projects in Palestine.

Finding Solutions

Islamic Relief visited Al-Shifa Hospital to assess needs and speak with administrative personnel and doctors working on staff. Working with the United Nations Development Program (UNDP), Islamic Relief identified many shortages that were in urgent need of solutions to better serve the hospital and community. These included shortages of delivery beds, bed sheets, and adequate medical devices and equipment.

"As the hospital is regarded the most important in the Gaza Strip, it must not suffer that amount of shortages. The shortage of the number of delivery beds compared to daily delivery cases makes women subject to high risks or even death," said Tayeh.

Tayeh went on to say, "All what has been assessed in the hospital indicates that the health of Palestinian women is in danger and is in need for an urgent intervention to avoid many humanitarian crises that may occur."

Making Changes

The upgrades Islamic Relief and UNDP provided at Al-Shifa Maternity Hospital were divided into three stages:

Stage 1: Renovation

• Partial renovation including ceramic tiling along the walls of corridors and entrances
• Facilitation of clean walls to protect them from moisture and depreciation
• Installation of new main electrical distribution board

Stage 2: Supplying Medical Equipments

• Provision of needed medical equipments to improve services to patients

Stage 3: Supplying Office Equipments

• Supplied furniture including chairs, benches, cupboards, curtains, operation clothes, bed sheets, etc.
• Supplied electrical devices including fans, heaters, refrigerators, water filters, etc. 

"Now, it's totally different…"

As a result of the intervention by Islamic Relief and UNDP, the hospital has been renovated, refurnished and supplied with delivery beds and new medical equipments. Al-Shifa Maternity Hospital now is the best place in the Gaza Strip for pregnant women to give birth in.

"We, in the hospital, are happy for this big change. No word can express our gratitude to all who took part in renovating the maternity hospital. Thank goes to those who took part in making the change. Thank [you] Islamic Relief and UNDP." said Dr. Khalil during the opening ceremony of the maternity hospital.