Dec, 2021
Khamis is able to effectively manage his diabetes thanks to medical aid Anera has delivered to Al-Azhar University clinic.
Khamis was only 29 when he learned that he had diabetes. Now 57, the loving father of eight has always had to stretch his budget to buy his medications.
“Medicine prices have gone up in Gaza,” he says. His wife is a diabetic too, so the family is doubly burdened by the rising costs.
“Medicine prices have gone up in Gaza.” — Khamis
Khamis is a blacksmith by training. He has worked at Al-Azhar University in Gaza for nearly three decades as a maintenance technician.
Recently, Khamis learned that his medicine — empagliflozin and metformin — is now available at Al-Azhar clinic. The medicine is helpful in managing Type 2 diabetes and its symptoms.
Thanks to a medical donation shipment by Americares, with shipping covered by a grant from Islamic Relief USA, Anera recently delivered antibiotics and chronic diseases medicines to the health facilities where they are needed the most.
Poor families struggle to obtain medicines and quality healthcare in the midst of the difficult living conditions that have prevailed in Gaza since the imposition of the blockade 14 years ago.
The clinic provides services to students and employees, as well as their families. Donated medicine makes up 80% of the university’s supply. Established in 1994, along with the rest of Al-Azhar University, the clinic now has three locations, including two at the university and the new building in the town of Al Mughraqa.
For Khamis, his health often comes second to paying his lease and his children's university fees. “It’s hard for me to prioritize my medicine” with all these other expenses, he says.
He says he has often purchased less effective diabetes medicines because they were the only ones he could afford. “Whenever my finances improved, I would buy the [good] one.”
Now Khamis can take the proper medication and save that money for himself and his family.
Anera has distributed the empagliflozin/ metformin HCL 12.5mg-500mg oral tablets included in the Americares shipment to 22 clinics and hospitals across Gaza to help patients with Type 2 diabetes. The views expressed herein are those of Anera and shall not, in any way whatsoever, be construed to reflect the official opinion of IRUSA, its Islamic Relief affiliates, or its donors.
