Experts speculate on causes of rising birth defects in Gaza
Birth defects have increased in the Gaza Strip, which raises questions about what the reasons might be.
GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip — During an ablative brain surgery Feb. 18 at Al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza City, neurosurgeon Mahmoud Abu Khater succeeded in removing an extra brain growth outside the head of 4-month-old Mayce Eid. He reconstructed her brain in a unique surgery.
The Ministry of Health covered the cost of the surgery. Mayce’s father, Shaker Sheikh Eid, had urged government authorities to step in to save his daughter’s life. Several hospitals in the Gaza Strip, such as the European Gaza Hospital in Khan Yunis, and Al-Makassed Hospital in East Jerusalem had refused to perform the risky operation and transferred the case to other hospitals in Gaza and the West Bank.
Abu Khater told Al-Monitor, “Mayce had a critical condition. Part of her brain was outside her skull and connected to the part of the brain inside the skull.”
Eid said that the family learned about the deformity during the seventh month of pregnancy after several tests. The doctors lost hope of finding a solution to the devastated family’s crisis. Some said the child would die during birth or after only a few days. The father said that, as per Sharia, the fetus could not be aborted.
