PHR-Israel: Palestinian prisoner denied access to care
In December 2005, PHR-Israel submitted a petition, demanding that the Israel Prison Service (IPS) pay for a kidney
transplant for Ahmad Al-Tamimi, a Palestinian prisoner. After approximately two years, throughout which IPS and
Beilinson Hospital withheld the examinations, which finally showed that the potential donor matches Al-Tamimi, and
therefore that the transplant is medically feasible, the court ruled that IPS must pay for the transplant.
Ahmad Al-Tamimi is a Palestinian prisoner serving life sentence since November 1993. Tamimi has been suffering from
renal failure and receives regular hemodialysis treatments. He is held in the IPS medical center. Although one of
Al-Tamimi's family members was able to donate a kidney, IPS refused to pay for the transplant, claiming that it is
unnecessary as long as hemodialysis treatments continue without complications.
However, Dr. Doron Schwartz, head of the nephrology ward at the Soraski Medical Center (Ichilov) in Tel-Aviv, told
PHR-Israel that "...life expectancy of a 40-44 years old patient under hemodialysis treatments is 8 years. If the
patient undergoes a transplant, life expectancy rises to 23 years. The sooner the transplant is performed, the higher
life expectancy will be."
In December 2005, attorney Johanna Lerman filed a petition on behalf of PHR-Israel, demanding that IPS pay for
Al-Tamimi's transplant. After approximately two years, Judge David Rosen ruled on Sunday, 28/10/07, that IPS must pay
for the transplant.
Rosen wrote that "the petitioner is a resident of the occupied territories. However, as he is being held under the
auspices of the state, the state is obliged to give him the same medical treatment given to Israeli citizens by the
public system." During the court discussion, the State Attorney mentioned that criminal prisoners in need of transplants
and those expecting transplants, are given parole, in accordance with section 7c in the Israeli Law of parole.
It is important to note that court discussions regarding the transplant resulted in a five-year delay of the transplant.
This has certainly decreased Tamimi's life expectancy and harmed his quality of life.
These unreasonable delays, as well as IPS's insistence that the transplant is unnecessary, and that the hemodialysis
treatment is sufficient, would not have been possible in a medical system which allows for transparency, and which is
supervised by the Ministry of Health.
As opposed to the citizens of Israel, who benefit from this type of system due to the National Health Insurance Law,
prisoners held by the IPS receive medical services from the IPS itself as part of the "public health ordinance". IPS and
the Ministry of Public Security supervise these medical services. The conflict of interests between medical needs and a
security authority, along with limited budgets, essentially prevent the sick prisoners from receiving optimal medical
treatment.
Eventually, their ability to submit complaints about delays in treatment is also harmed. Today, Palestinian prisoners
held for security reasons can only file complaints through human rights organizations and lawyers It is very difficult
for them to file a complaint regarding medical or other problems, as they hardly have any access to the outside world.
They cannot make phone calls, many of them are not allowed to have family visits due to security considerations, and the
number of letters they can write or receive is limited.
The only people from the outside world they are allowed to meet are ICRC representatives, who make visits once every
several months, or lawyers from Israeli and Palestinian Human rights organizations who occasionally make visits to
prisoners based on the families' requests.
ENDS