THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, September 27, 1996 TAG: 9609270514
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A15 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY MARIE JOYCE, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: 42 lines
Physicians For Peace, the Norfolk-based international medical relief group, has postponed a mission to Gaza and the West Bank because of the violence on the West Bank. It is the first time in 12 years that the team has had to delay a trip.
``We shed some tears about it because we have friends on both sides that we know are good people,'' said Dr. Charles E. Horton, a Norfolk plastic surgeon and the group's chairman and founder.
The mission, the group's ninth to the area, was supposed to start today. Members are not sure when they'll reschedule it.
Twenty doctors and other health care workers from across the United States planned to see patients needing many different types of treatment, including open heart surgery, plastic surgery and cancer therapy. A biomedical technician from the team was going to repair hospital equipment.
The group emphasizes education, and members planned a large symposium on a variety of topics. The group is apolitical, nonprofit and secular.
The group decided to wait in part from concern about volunteers' safety. Also, travel in the region has been restricted, making it impossible for team members to get to the doctors they want to help, said Gail T. Kelley, medical programs director.
``We don't want to be a burden on our hosts,'' Kelley said.
The doctors have been close to political violence before. They were in Syria in 1991, when the Gulf War started. At times, they have changed their itinerary during a trip to avoid getting hurt.
Horton said he's not sure whether this postponement will cost the team. It will depend on whether the airlines are willing to reschedule travel dates so close to the scheduled departure.
More than 4,300 vials of insulin, donated by drug company Eli Lilly and shipped in advance, had just made it to Palestinian hands. The medicine will be used by doctors there.
Operation Smile, a Norfolk-based group that provides plastic surgery to children, still hopes to complete a mission to Gaza in November, a staff member said.
KEYWORDS: OPERATION SMILE by CNB