Dr. Mohamed Soliman doesn’t have any connection to people in Gaza – what he does have is empathy and a desire to help.
“I’ve been waiting for some way to help. Any chance I can help, I am willing to help,” said Soliman from his dental clinic in northwest Calgary. “When this came up I said if you get approval to go, I’m more than happy to go and help those kids from dying. I understand the risk.”
Soliman responded to a call to action by a Calgary family physician who wants to organize a Canadian health convoy to Gaza.
“As a physician activist, the only thing I can do is to be there and provide health care,” said Dr. Mukarram Zaidi, chair of Think for Actions, a Calgary-based national non-profit think tank, focused on the professional development of youth.
Zaidi has written to federal politicians requesting that Canadian authorities allow him and other health-care professionals access to the medical supplies they need to offer help.
He’s also asking the government to use diplomatic channels to allow them to cross the Rafah border into Gaza.
Despite the potential risk to his own life, Zaidi is committed to going to a place where some medical staff have been killed.
“You need to do the right thing for the right reasons. You just can’t sit quietly and let things unfold,” Zaidi said.
Soliman says he can’t take the burden of knowing children are dying every day. He says it wouldn’t matter if this tragedy were unfolding in Canada or in the Middle East, he would want to do what he could to ease the suffering. Volunteering his skills has been a part of his life for years.
“It’s very painful for all of us. If your neighbour kid is in trouble, you will go and help. You can’t just watch them dying especially if you know you have skills of doing CPR or you’re able to resuscitate or you’re able to intubate. You’re not just going to watch them dying and say it’s not my problem,” Soliman said.
Doctor’s Without Borders says they are having extreme difficulties delivering aid and providing health care due to the insecurity and the unpredictability of the bombardments.
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