Community & Business
9 June, 2024
Event to raise money for Gaza-Med
AN evening of education, reflection and fundraising for the current conflict in Gaza will take place at the Mareeba International Club this weekend, hosted by a local Palestinian doctor.
Mareeba doctors and Gaza-Med organisers Adrian Conner and Akil Islam decided to host the event to promote and fundraise for the PANZMA charity.
Through the charity, 100% of the funds raised during the Gaza-Med event would go directly to helping sick and injured civilians in Gaza.
“PANZMA was formed by Australian doctors of Palestinian heritage ... with the aims of being able to provide medical aid to Gaza and the West Bank and also education,” Dr Conners said.
“Doctors are going over there and educating the local doctors and medicals and doing medical missions.”
During the event, doctors involved with PANZMA and missions into the West Bank will speak on their experiences when entering the war zone and how locals can help assist in their efforts.
A live auction and a film screening will also take place during the afternoon meal.
Dr Conners hoped everyone in the Mareeba community would come along to support the thousands of families fighting to survive in Gaza and Rafah.
“I have been on the Tablelands for seven years now ... and it is crazy the idea that more kids have died than the entire population of the Tablelands,” he said.
“It is shocking some of the stories I have been told by returning doctors. They have basically said they can’t do anything because the health system has been completely decimated.
“They are doing surgeries under zero anaesthetic or even just using paracetamol ... I feel responsible to report what is going on and what I have heard from past colleagues.”
Dr Conners is urging anyone who can not attend the event to email their local politicians about their concerns about Australia’s involvement in the war.
Tickets to the event on Sunday from 2pm are $25 for a child, $50 an adult and can be purchased online at www.eventbrite.com/e/gaza-med-fundraiser-tickets-907517628657. For more information, email gazamed2024@gmail.com
