Opinion
Has one of Australia’s leading children’s hospitals been illicitly funneling medicines and medical equipment to a terrorist organisation? That’s the question which must be asked, after the shocking revelation of a secret Hamas wish-list circulating at the Royal Children’s Hospital in Melbourne.
A confidential document detailing a $7.7m wishlist of medicines and medical equipment for Gaza is being investigated by Melbourne’s Royal Children’s Hospital after being found in an operating theatre precinct.
The document states that it relates to the October 7 invasion of Israel and refers in Arabic to “urgent need for hospitals in emergency situations’’, listing in detail demands to provide supplies for the Palestinian Ministry of Health.
The document is clearly marked as belonging to the “State of Palestine” Ministry of Health: which is to say, Hamas.
For some reason, somebody wanted to keep the Hamas shopping list from public scrutiny.
It was found inside a secure area in the RCH that prevented access from members of the public, senior hospital sources said […]
The document lists 58 different items of medical instruments and materials, plus a separate request for medicines and disposables including spinal needles and gastric tubes.
Hospital sources said the pricing appeared to be excessive and that there were questions over why the document would have been drawn up and been found deep inside the hospital.
It is common for supposed “humanitarian supplies” sent to Gaza to be marked with inflated prices. The difference is skimmed off and used to directly finance Hamas. The RCH document appears to be no different.
The document, seen by The Australian, includes a request for medicines with carefully catalogued prices, although hospital sources said the pricing appeared to be inflated, raising questions about whether the document was a fundraiser as well as a means to obtain health items.
A senior RCH official questioned whether the extra cash would be used to fund other things, such as Hamas’s defence of Gaza.
“The Gaza Health Ministry is under the control of Hamas, which is designated as a terrorist organisation by Australia and other Western countries,” Mr Wertheim said.
The RCH is, not surprisingly, dodging questions.
Executive Council of Australian Jewry co-chief executive Peter Wertheim said the existence of the document raised serious questions about the motivation behind the strategy and why it was inside the RCH.
The hospital told The Australian there would be an investigation into the document, which runs for 10 pages and appears to inflate the value of items ranging from orthopaedic instruments to trolleys and ketamine to paracetamol and ultrasound gel.
“We were not aware of this document, nor have we facilitated or supported the distribution of it throughout the hospital,’’ the RCH said in a statement.
“This matter will be thoroughly investigated internally’’ […]
The RCH was asked whether the hospital was providing taxpayer-funded assistance to Gaza but referred the questions to the state government.
The Australian
As the ECAJ says, the presence of such a document circulating in the surgical theatre of a children’s hospital demands answers.
What was the document even doing there? Why was it in a surgery, especially? Are RCH staff pilfering medical supplies on behalf of the Hamas-run Palestinian Ministry of Health? Why were the costs of the items inflated?
The RCH cannot be allowed to go to ground and hope this all blows over.