Over 100 Pakistani women doctors in more than a dozen countries have joined a technology-driven initiative to provide medical support and care to thousands of people under trauma in Gaza and other cities of Palestine bombed by Israel, officials and people attached with the project said.

As part of an ongoing project eDoctor, the women medicos extended  telehealth services in Palestine mainly catering to the women and children in war-hit zones, Dawn reported.

The officials said after the Israeli aggression began, they contacted the humanitarian and aid organizations in the areas under attack and succeeded in building a platform for telemedicine in almost all major cities of Palestine.

“We are offering services in Gaza, Ramallah and West Bank,” said Abdullah Butt, the founder of Educast, the technology partner of the eDoctor project.

“We have more than 150 doctors for this particular cause based in different cities of Pakistan and around the world including Saudi Arabia, UAE, Oman, the United States, the United Kingdom, Ireland, Australia, New Zealand, etc. We took the initiative solely on humanitarian grounds just to contribute our part in the challenging time for Palestinians,” he said.

But a big hurdle was the language barrier.

Most of the doctors offering their services were unable to speak Arabic while the patients and majority of aid workers and patients in Palestine couldn’t understand any other language, he added.

“So to remove this barrier, we explored our contacts in other countries,” said Butt.

“We have taken Arabic speaking female doctors from Jordan, Saudi Arabia and Sudan onboard and connected them with our system. Now they are with our Pakistani doctors offering services to the people in Palestine.”

He said that the fresh and most common phenomenon there right now was the post-war stress and most of the people, mainly women and children needed counseling.

Dr. Sadia Khalid, a member of the project, said she felt honored to be a part of the Palestine project.

“Under such traumatic circumstances, this project will prove as a ray of hope for the brave people of Palestine. I am humbled for being provided an opportunity to share my contribution and help the people who need it most,” she said.

(SAM)