Help Requested! Lutheran World Federation’s Augusta Victoria Hospital struggling in East Jerusalem
Call your representatives!
Dear Peace Not Walls Network,
I am writing regarding the cash crisis that Augusta Victoria Hospital is experiencing due to the lack of payments from the Palestinian Authority for the patients that the PA refers to AVH. Augusta Victoria Hospital is struggling to continue to keep the AVH doors open in order to treat cancer patients from Gaza and the West Bank, and now also wounded from Gaza. Your advocacy is needed!
USAID was very close in the spring to sending funding to the PA, earmarked for AVH and other East Jerusalem hospitals. However, at the last minute, the funding was halted due to issues with the peace process and the reconciliation talks between Fatah and Hamas.
We got some relief on July 26th when we received 9.5 million Euro from the EU. However, this only covered a portion of the PA’s bills. The PA still owes AVH/LWF over 20 million USD, and, since the PA continues to refer cancer patients and others to AVH, the amount owed by the PA to AVH is increasing by over 2 million USD each month. This is not sustainable for AVH and the need for funding is urgent.
Our request now is that the U.S. Government separate humanitarian funding from the overall cash transfer to the PA and release humanitarian funding in the amount of 50 million USD as soon as possible for the benefit of the patients served by Augusta Victoria Hospital and the other East Jerusalem hospitals. Once the Congress releases the funds, USAID stands ready to make the disbursement. Please see the attached briefing paper for more details.
AVH needs your advocacy to get this humanitarian funding released for AVH and the East Jerusalem hospitals. Please let us know if you are able to engage your Members of Congress.
*Please respond to me with your Congressional District (you can easily figure that out here: http://www.house.gov/representatives/find/).
We want to mobilize the Peace Not Walls network for this advocacy effort – please pass along this information to others that would be willing to engage their Members of Congress. Please have them email me directly so that we can include them in our advocacy outreach.
Thank you,
Karin
Peace Not Walls Coordinator
Suggestions for talking to members of Congress:
Thanks to those who have already taken action! I also received some good questions and so wanted to share the information below with everyone:
Here’s how you can start taking action:
1. Send me (Peace Not Walls Coordinator for the ELCA) your Congressional District (http://www.house.gov/representatives/find/) – We are collecting congressional districts so that we can strategically engage representatives where we know we have advocates.
2. The matter is urgent: Call and write to your representatives using the attached talking points. Since it is August your representatives are on recess and will be back in their home districts- see if you can try to meet with them in person. We are hoping people will be willing to engage their representatives several times on this issue over the next few months.
3. Write back to me with how you were able to engage your representative and what kind of response you got (i.e. are they willing to help contact USAID, did they send a form letter response or did they respond to your actual concerns, do they seem like someone we could follow up with to ask to take action, etc.). Please also share any direct contact information you have for the representative and their staff.
4. Peace Not Walls will be in touch with updates as the situation evolves and we have new developments in the advocacy strategy. Please engage your representative now and we will follow up with specific requests based on your Congressional District.
Thanks for your help!
Karin
Peace Not Walls Coordinator
The Lutheran World Federation
August Victoria Hospital
Jerusalem
TALKING POINTS ON THE AVH CASH FLOW CRISIS
For use in relation to advocacy toward the U.S. Administration
and U.S. Congress
Augusta Victoria Hospital (AVH) and other East
Jerusalem hospitals receive and treat patients referred to them by the
Palestinian Authority (PA). They rely on
the PA to pay on a regular basis for the patients it refers to them. Unfortunately, the PA has delayed paying its
bills and owes AVH alone over 20 million USD.
This has created a cash flow crisis for the LWF’s Augusta Victoria
Hospital and is putting patients’ lives at risk.
The US Government can relieve this crisis by
releasing humanitarian funding for the benefit of patients served by Augusta
Victoria Hospital and the other East Jerusalem hospitals. So that there is no delay, this humanitarian
funding should be separated from the overall cash transfer to the PA already
appropriated by Congress and should be released for disbursement by USAID,
either directly to the hospitals or to the hospitals through the PA.
Key
talking points (updated
2 August 2014):
- The
Lutheran World Federation (LWF) has managed Augusta Victoria Hospital
(AVH) for over 65 years. AVH provides life-saving care, including cancer
treatment that is not available elsewhere in Gaza or the West Bank. AVH is part of a network of East
Jerusalem hospitals that provide a wide range of specialty services within
the Palestinian health care system.
- A
large percentage of AVH patients are referred to AVH by the Palestinian
Authority, so AVH relies heavily on the payments from the PA. AVH is
carrying the largest debt among all East Jerusalem hospitals. The PA has not paid its bills to AVH for
the last quarter of 2013 and all of 2014.
AVH is now owed over 20 million USD. Since the PA continues to
refer patients to AVH, the amount owed by the PA to AVH is increasing by
over 2 million USD each month. Other East Jerusalem hospitals are in a
similar situation, but to a lesser degree. - East Jerusalem hospitals, already under strain
due to the lack of payments from the PA, are now under even more strain
with an influx of emergency patients from Gaza. In July 2014, AVH opened a new emergency care unit, with 12 surgical
and 4 ICU beds, to treat injured from Gaza. AVH is also sending medical
teams and supplies to Gaza; the first AVH team left for Gaza on 1 August
2014. - AVH will continue
to carry a heavy
responsibility for the on-going treatment of cancer patients from Gaza and
the West Bank, and at the same time will care for wounded and injured from
Gaza. - When the fighting
in Gaza is over, or at times when a humanitarian truce or ceasefire is in
effect and access to Jerusalem is easier for Gaza patients, AVH will
receive more cancer patients and sicker cancer patients due to delays in
treatment. - 200
million USD has already been appropriated by Congress to support the PA,
but Congress is delaying release of the funds that would normally be
disbursed through the US Agency for International Development (USAID).
Funding for Augusta
Victoria Hospital and the other East Jerusalem hospitals is urgent.
Our request is that the U.S.
Government separate humanitarian funding from the overall cash transfer to
the PA and release humanitarian
funding in the amount of 50 million USD as soon as possible for the benefit of the
patients served by Augusta Victoria Hospital and the other East Jerusalem
hospitals. This funding,
released for disbursement by USAID, will help to save lives and ensure that
there is no interruption in the AVH treatment of West Bank and Gaza cancer
patients and others needing life-saving care.
About AVH:
Videos: http://lwfjerusalem.org/news/videos/
2013 LWF Jerusalem
Annual Report: http://lwfjerusalem.org//files/2014/04/LWf-2013-Low-for-Website.pdf
LWF and ELCA contacts:
LWF Advocacy Contact:
The Rev. Mark
Brown (LWF Regional Representative, Jerusalem) mark@lwfjerusalem.org
ELCA Advocacy Contacts:
Dennis Frado
(Director, Lutheran Office for World Community) Dennis.Frado@elca.org; The Rev. Stacy Martin (Director of ELCA Advocacy) Stacy.Martin@elca.org
ELCA
Peace Not Walls Contact: Karin Brown (PNW Coordinator) Karin.Brown@elca.org