by InTrieste
Eight Palestinian children arrived in Trieste overnight – five with various injuries and three suffering from serious illnesses – who will now be treated at the Irccs Burlo Garofalo before finding comfort and hospitality in some families and with religious sisters in our region, thanks to a complex humanitarian operation that is unprecedented in Italy.
In total, 21 people landed at Trieste Airport during the night between Monday, April 29th, and Tuesday, April 30th, including children and family members. Transporting them to safety, away from the horrors of war, was a private plane that obtained the difficult clearance from Egypt to land at a military base. Upon landing at Ronchi, the children and their families were greeted by ambulances and vans provided by the Region through Civil Protection and were then transported to the Burlo hospital in Trieste. Upon arrival at Burlo, the children were immediately examined in the Emergency Room and started on their respective diagnostic and therapeutic paths. Doctors stated that, after an initial observation period, they will be able to provide more information on the conditions of the young patients in a couple of weeks.
In particular, four children require amputation and will receive prostheses to be made in Emilia Romagna, two need bone marrow transplants, one child has a wound from an explosion, and one has a serious surgical condition. A young woman, the mother of one of them, who is also expecting a second child, joined the children.
The institute has provided its guesthouse “Come a casa” to accommodate family members, and the ABC Bambini Chirurgici Association has provided an apartment. The Bishop of Udine, Monsignor Andrea Bruno Mazzocato, and the Rosarie Sisters of Udine congregation have also committed to finding accommodations for the children and their families, while the Bishop of the Greek Catholic Church of Oradea, Monsignor Virgil Bercea, made a fundamental contribution to organizing the transfer of the eight young patients and their families from Bangladesh to Trieste.
A fundraising campaign is already underway to raise resources to support the children and their families, and other solidarity events will be organized soon. Making this operation possible was the English NGO Save a Child, led by Sally Becker, an organization that Marino Andolina, a retired pediatrician from Burlo, collaborates with and has worked in various war theaters. The mission was organized, under the mandate of the director general Stefano Dorbolò, by Barbara Fari, responsible for access to healthcare for patients not enrolled in the national health service at Burlo.
