Title: Augusta Victoria Hospital Financial Situation Dire; ELCA Provides Grant ELCA NEWS SERVICE
April 4, 2006
Augusta Victoria Hospital Financial Situation Dire; ELCA Provides Grant 06-054-JB
CHICAGO (ELCA) -- International Disaster Response of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) released an initial $100,000 grant March 31 for emergency financial support of Augusta Victoria Hospital (AVH) in East Jerusalem. The hospital, operated by the Lutheran World Federation (LWF), is dealing with a financial crisis because a significant source of its funding through the Palestinian Authority is gone.
Important funding sources -- including the governments of the United States, Canada and the European Union -- are withholding money from the Palestinian Authority because its new political leadership is affiliated with Hamas, said Dr. Tawfiq Nasser, AVH chief executive officer. Many world leaders say Hamas is a terrorist organization.
"One thing that was not realized is that the Palestinian Authority as the government is the largest service provider," Nasser said in a March 31 interview with the ELCA News Service. "Palestinian civil society is completely dependent on services that are provided by the government." The funding boycott has put the hospital "in a difficult position," Nasser said.
The ELCA responded to an international appeal for funds from Action by Churches Together (ACT), said Dr. Belletech Deressa, director for international development and disaster response, ELCA Global Mission. ACT is asking its partner organizations to assist AVH financially for the next six months, she said.
ACT is a worldwide network of churches and related agencies that meets human need through organized emergency response. It is based with the World Council of Churches (WCC) and the LWF, Geneva, Switzerland. The ELCA is a member of the LWF and WCC.
The Evangelical Lutheran Church in Canada (ELCIC) responded April 3 to the appeal with a $50,000 (U.S.) grant. Lutheran World Relief (LWR), the international relief and development organization of the ELCA and Lutheran Church-Missouri-Synod, Baltimore, also responded to the appeal, providing a $75,000 grant. Other churches or church-related agencies are considering grants, Nasser said.
The hospital provides cancer care, pediatric kidney dialysis and many other medical and health services to its patients, most of whom are Palestinians, Deressa said. At the moment, AVH is the only specialized treatment center for pediatric dialysis and radiation oncology for Palestinians in the occupied Palestinian Territories, she said.
Nasser explained that AVH has a significant contract with the Palestinian Authority insurance program that provides catastrophic care coverage. Because funding for that program has been stopped, the insurer went bankrupt, he said.
The result is the hospital has no insurance entity to bill for services, yet patients need treatment.
"It's very unethical and illegal to stop the treatment of these patients," Nasser said. "On the other hand we are officially informed that their insurer cannot pay the bills. So what do you do?"
In addition to the financial problem, Palestinian access to the hospital, which has always been a difficult, has been reduced, creating what Nasser called "a near-impossible situation."
AVH could not meet its payroll for the past two months, and some staff, including physicians, have left, Nasser said.
The hospital expects to lose about $296,000 per month in insurance funds, Nasser said. The ACT appeal seeks a total of $1.3 million for six months to keep the hospital functioning, he said. The funds are needed very soon, Nasser warned.
"I think that if we don't get this aid between now and (the next) two to three weeks, then the hospital will be in a position where we cannot treat patients," he said. "The window we have now is about three weeks at max, and then the hospital will start going through a serious situation of collapse."
If the hospital can secure the funds, Nasser said he and his staff will have some time to figure out how they can secure funding for the future.
"My main worry, as a person who is trained in the biomedical/clinical field and also is responsible for the hospital management side, is that I don't interrupt services," Nasser said. "If we reach a point where we are interrupting services and we are refusing to treat patients, we create a near- disaster situation."
Nasser is also concerned about the effect of the hospital's financial situation on the outcome of an LWF tax case with the State of Israel. AVH was already facing the possibility of paying hundreds of thousands of dollars in taxes to the State of Israel.
In court proceedings in 2002 Israel sought to void a long- standing tax exemption the LWF has had for its humanitarian and health care activities in the region since 1966.
Israel won the case in 2002. The LWF appealed the verdict to the Israeli Supreme Court, and the next court date is in May. LWF leaders are concerned the hospital's future may be jeopardized if the LWF loses the appeal. Nasser also believes that if the hospital cannot operate because of the current funding emergency, it could lose the tax case.
In remarks to the ELCA Church Council meeting here April 1, the Rev. Mark S. Hanson, ELCA presiding bishop and LWF president, said the "very viability" of the hospital is at stake because of the loss of funds and the pending tax case. He said the hospital situation must be resolved immediately for the sake of the Palestinian people.
Hanson also told the council that the ELCA and others need to press U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice to intervene.
Following his visit to the ELCA churchwide office here, Nasser traveled to meet with officials of the ELCIC. He is planning to meet with officials in Washington, D.C., and visit congregations in Maryland and Virginia to explain AVH's current needs and seek possible funding. Nasser also plans to meet with LWR officials before returning home.
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Information about Augusta Victoria Hospital is at http://www.avh.org/ on the Web.
INTERNATIONAL DISASTERS:
Editors: When listing organizations receiving funds for aid to survivors of major disasters outside the United States, Puerto Rico or the U.S. Virgin Islands, please include:
ELCA International Disaster Response, PO Box 71764, Chicago, IL 60694-1764, 1-800-638-3522 and http://www.ELCA.org/disaster/idrgive on the Internet.
For information contact:
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