An Irish surgeon has returned home after volunteering as a doctor in Gaza’s main hospital for three weeks.

Dr Mohamed Shaalan said it was a “living nightmare” for those suffering from gruesome injuries with very few treatment options available to them.

The Dublin-based orthopedic surgeon spent around 14 hours a day working in the European Hospital in Rafah, where he also slept on a mattress on the floor with 10 other doctors in a room.

On Lunchtime Live today, Dr Shaalan said the cramped conditions made treating patients difficult.

“The only working hospital in Gaza is the European Hospital; there are a few small hospitals around it but they are not suitable for remedial surgeries,” he said.

“The problem is having a space for doctors to work; space is the main issue.

“They have only four theatre rooms, on the second floor, and they have one theatre room on the ground floor for neurosurgery.

“In total, there are five rooms for all people in Gaza.”

A patient on a hospital in the European Hospital in Gaza. Image: Federico Neri / Alamy Stock Photo

Dr Shaalan said the patients are not getting the care they need.

“There are 250 patients on external fixators waiting for surgery,” he said.

“We use those here as a temporary measure for a few days in cases of open fractures, like broken legs with a wound – but they are on external fixators for several months.

“Patients are in pain from fractures that are not healed and inside is loose and infected, many patients are in more pain from the infection than the fracture itself.”

Irish surgeon

The Dublin surgeon said some of the injuries he had seen were horrific.

“I never saw patients with isolated injuries, they all came with multiple injuries, like to the chest, abdomen, upper limb – all different kinds,” he said.

“They have skin loss, soft tissue loss, and convoluted fractures in mini fragments; if we have these injuries in Ireland, you could need a team of plastic surgeries to fix it – but there, you are working on your own.”

Schedule

The work schedule was tough for Dr Shaalan.

“Usually, I worked from 9am until 6pm and I took a two-hour break and then resumed work again until 3am or 4am,” he said.

“When I travelled there, it was in my mind I would not get sleep or proper food.

"The major concern for me is how to save people and how to help them. When I got there, I never thought about myself at all."

Palestinians walk past a building destroyed in the Israeli bombardment of the Gaza Strip in Gaza City, 3-1-24. Image: Associated Press / Alamy

Dr Shaalan, who is planning to go back to Gaza in May, said the war needs to stop for people to get the medical attention they need.

“We have to help, there are nearly 10,000 people amputated,” he said.

“We need to put a lot of pressure on to stop this war, this is the only way to save people and help people.”

An estimated 34,000 people have been killed in Gaza since October 7th.

You can listen back here:

Main image: Dr Mohamed Shaalan in Newstalk studios today. Image: Newstalk