Establishment

Al Wafa Hospital for Medical Rehabilitation and Specialized Surgery was established in 1980 as a response to the community need for a rehabilitation center in Gaza. It was the first and only medical rehabilitation center in the Gaza when it opened and provides specialized services to all patients and disabled people suffering from motor or cognitive disabilities resulting from spinal injuries, brain injuries, strokes, paralysis, muscle and nerve disorders, fractures, bladder and bedwetting issues, bedridden complications, and circulatory disorders (ischemia) in the limbs[1][2].

The hospital is managed by the Al Wafa Charitable Society, an association that adopts two main programs: Al Wafa Hospital for medical rehabilitation and specialized surgeries, and Al Wafa Elderly Care Center, which provides comprehensive and complete shelter services free of charge[3].

Development

Al-Wafa Hospital has been destroyed several times during the ongoing Israeli aggression on the Gaza Strip. Whenever the hospital has been developed and rebuilt, it has been bombed and re-targeted. 

In August 2014, a month after the end of the aggression, the hospital was relocated to a new headquarters in Zahraa City in central Gaza City, equipped with furniture and medical equipment, through the efforts of the Qatar Red Crescent and a donation from the Islamic Development Bank.[4] The new hospital included medical equipment, such as ultrasound machines, sterilization and physiotherapy equipment, oxygen cylinders and furniture for patient rooms to enable the hospital to continue providing its services. The new hospital had 80 beds, 40 of which were dedicated to the elderly care center, and the rest were for clinical rehabilitation services for patients.

In February 2016, the hospital organized a medical conference entitled “Stroke is not the end” in which Palestinian, British, French and German doctors participated in several medical fields, including: medical rehabilitation, neurology, and neurosurgery, within the framework of developing the health sector and meeting the needs of the community at the time[5].

In February 2017, the reconstruction and relocation of the hospital as it was moved from the eastern Shuja’iyya neighborhood to the Abu Khadra governmental complex in the center of Gaza City. It was relocated away from the eastern border of the city because of its exposure to to invasions and confrontations with the occupation army. It included two buildings on 4,000 square meter plot of land. The main building on an area of 1,000 meters and an auxiliary services building on an area of 230 meters, in addition to corridors and courtyards[6].

In December 2018, the hospital provided a treatment program for Palestinians wounded in the Great March of Return, , which included multiple internal and external rehabilitation services such as: medical examination, blood tests, radiology, wound cleaning and dressing, physiotherapy sessions, occupational therapy sessions, specialized consultations, and health education, benefiting 45 wounded, in addition to 40 people with other disabilities[7].

In February 2019, the hospital received a medical delegation from Norway and discussed ways of medical cooperation with the Norwegian aid committee Norwac, so that Al Wafa Hospital would be an integral part of the Ministry of Health's Outpatient Physiotherapy Department within the “Pain Therapy” unit, which the Norwegian Foundation intended to establish in Al Shifa Complex in the future to serve patients[8].

In June 2022, the hospital officially opened and moved into its new buildings in central Gaza[9].