Ask Congress to support Augusta Victoria Hospital

Ask Congress to meet an urgent humanitarian need of the Palestinian people by supporting Augusta Victoria Hospital and the other East Jerusalem hospitals.

Take action now at the ELCA Action Center! Ask your U.S. senators and representative:

to encourage the U.S. government to support Augusta Victoria Hospital (AVH) by helping to cover the cancer treatment costs of Palestinian patients from the West Bank and Gaza treated at AVH.
to visit the Augusta Victoria Hospital in Jerusalem.

Background

Augusta Victoria Hospital is operated by The Lutheran World Federation (LWF) in Jerusalem. It started in partnership with the U.N. Relief and Works Agency in 1948 as a major medical facility in Jerusalem to care for Palestinian refugees. Today, most of the patients served by the hospital continue to be in social need and are seeking life-saving specialized care.

Augusta Victoria is the first and only hospital to provide radiation therapy for cancer patients in the Palestinian territories and is the only medical facility in the West Bank offering pediatric kidney dialysis. On a daily basis, these and other specialty services touch countless lives, both young and old, from communities across the Palestinian territories.

Augusta Victoria Hospital faces on-going cash-flow problems* as a result of the inability of the Palestinian Authority (PA) to pay on a regular basis the fees of the cancer patients it refers to the hospital.

The hospital has received vital support from the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) in recent years (nearly $10 million in cancer-related machines, lab equipment, and training), which has helped raise the level of cancer treatment available through Augusta Victoria Hospital for Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza.

Continued advocacy needed in 2016!

The message from congressional staffers in 2015 to the ELCA was clear: The voices of ELCA members are being heard on this issue and are making a difference!

At the same time, the costs for patients referred to Augusta Victoria Hospital continue to mount at the rate of $2.5 million per month, and another U.S. Agency for International Development payment is needed in 2016. Toward the end of 2016, it is hoped that USAID will make a large payment to the Palestinian Authority designated for AVH and the other East Jerusalem hospitals.

Therefore, advocacy in Congress is still needed to ensure that the U.S. government through USAID releases a large payment for the East Jerusalem hospitals in the fall of 2016. The funding is crucial to avoid any interruption of treatment for West Bank and Gaza cancer patients and other patients served at AVH and other East Jerusalem hospitals.

Visit your representative while they are in their home district March 28-April 8.

Please ask your representatives in the Senate and House to support the transfer of 2016 allocations to the U.S. Agency for International Development in order to meet urgent humanitarian needs of the Palestinian people. These allocations are needed to cover at least 50 percent of the Palestinian Authority debt to Augusta Victoria Hospital and the other East Jerusalem hospitals.

Also, encourage your members of Congress to visit Augusta Victoria Hospital to see first-hand the important work that is being done and the partnership with the U.S. Government through USAID.

* Augusta Victoria Hospital finished 2015 with bank loans of 1.16 million euros; payables to suppliers of 3.25 million euros; LWF Jerusalem Program loans to AVH of 2.89 million euros; 74,131 euros in cash on hand; and 25,169,472 euros (approximately $28,364,000 at mid-March exchange rates) in Palestinian Authority outstanding receivables. On Feb. 8, AVH received most of the expected 2015 U.S. funding via the Palestinian Authority in the amount of $8.6 million. This payment was equivalent to 31 percent of the PA receivables owed to AVH. With this payment, the AVH bank loan was at zero, but it is anticipated that a loan will be needed again in late April or early May 2016 in order to carry the hospital until late summer, when it expects to receive European Union funding. That EU funding will carry the hospital until later in the year, when it is hoped that the 2016 U.S. funding will be available.

Contact LWF Representative Mark Brown to set up a visit to the hospital: Mark@lwfjerusalem.org or Office Tel: +972-2-628-2289 and Cell Phone: +972-53-525-5843.

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