Augusta Victoria Hospital
31°47′12″N 35°14′57″E / 31.78667°N 35.24917°E
Augusta Victoria Hospital | |
---|---|
Geography | |
Location | East Jerusalem |
Organisation | |
Funding | 1910 |
Type | Community, Specialist |
Religious affiliation | Prussian Union of Churches |
Affiliated university | None |
Patron | Augusta Victoria of Schleswig-Holstein |
Services | |
Emergency department | No |
History | |
Construction started | 1910 |
Opened | 1910s |
Links | |
Website | www |
Augusta Victoria Compound is
Throughout much of its history, the compound was used first and foremost as a hospital, either by the military (during the First and Second World Wars and during Jordanian rule), or for Palestinian refugees and general public (from 1950 until today), and at times also as a government or military headquarters (1915–1927).
Today, Augusta Victoria Hospital provides specialty care for Palestinians from across the West Bank and the Gaza Strip with services including a cancer center, a dialysis unit, and a pediatric center. It is the second largest hospital in East Jerusalem, as well as the sole remaining specialized care unit located in the West Bank or Gaza Strip.
History
The complex was named for
After the Kaiser's 1898 visit, he commissioned the construction of a guesthouse for German pilgrims. Private donations were collected throughout Germany and donators honoured with the Cross of the Mount of Olives. Many of the building materials were imported from Germany. A 60-metre high church tower was constructed with four bells, the largest of them weighing six tons. To transport these bells from Jaffa, the road to Jerusalem had to be widened and paved. The expense was more than double the cost of transporting the bells from Hamburg to Jaffa. Augusta Victoria was the first building in the country to have electricity, provided by a diesel generator.[6]
During
From 1920 to 1927, Augusta Victoria was the official residence of the
The
During World War II, the compound was again used as a hospital by the British.[6]
Under Jordanian administration, technically under United Nations Truce Supervision Organization control, it was a military hospital for soldiers from the Arab Legion.[9]
After World War II, the entire property of the German Evangelical mission to Palestine was passed into the fiduciary responsibility of the Lutheran World Federation (LWF); in 1950 the LWF established a large hospital for refugees in the compound.[5] The hospital director was the long-time staff physician of the German Deaconess Hospital of Jerusalem, the Arab Palestinian Dr. Tawfiq Canaan, who kept this position until 1956.[5]
Prior to the 1967 Six-Day War, the campus was fortified with several bunkers.[citation needed] During that war the building was heavily damaged, the upper floor was devastated by fire and was only rebuilt in 1988.[5]
Today
Today, Augusta Victoria Hospital provides specialty care for Palestinians from across the West Bank and the Gaza Strip with services including a cancer center, a dialysis unit, and a pediatric center. In 2016, it inaugurated a bone marrow transplantation unit.[10] It is the second-largest hospital in East Jerusalem, as well as being the sole remaining specialized-care hospital located in the West Bank or Gaza Strip.[11] It runs 120 in-patient beds and treat a number of outpatients who come in for dialysis and radiation treatment, being the only facility serving 4.5m Palestinians in the area of radiation therapy.
In May 2016, Joint Commission International, a US-based body that assesses hospitals and health care facilities globally, re-accredited the hospital for another three years.[10]
The hospital is one of six specialized medical centers in the
Since its re-establishment in 1950 Auguste Victoria Hospital has been primarily run and financed by
The hospital mission statement includes the provision of health care without regard to race, creed, gender, or national origin.The hospital currently (2022) has 171 beds. In 2022 it did 22,717 dialysis sessions, 18,800 chemotherapy sessions and 31,717 radiation sessions.[13]
In 2022, US President Joe Biden visited the hospital. On 27 November 2023, German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier paid a visit.
Compound
The Augusta Victoria compound currently contains the following buildings and institutions:
- Augusta Victoria Hospital
- Church of the Ascension (German Protestant)[2]
- The German Protestant Institute of Archaeology (Deutsches Evangelisches Institut für Altertumswissenschaft des Heiligen Landes), Jerusalem branch (the second one is in Amman)[2]
The
The guesthouse is run by The Lutheran World Federation for international volunteers and guests.[16]
Oncology services
The hospital has a Department of Oncology which is an advanced center for cancer treatment. The department consists of the Unit for Medical Oncology, the Unit for Radiation Oncology, and the Unit for Surgical Oncology.
A pediatric oncology ward for Palestinian children opened in April 2005 in a joint project with the Peres Center for Peace, various Italian foundations and the Hadassah University Hospital, which trained the oncologist and nursing staff.[11]
See also
References
- ^ "Lutheran Church of Ascension (Augusta Victoria Hospital)". Visit Palestine. Retrieved July 20, 2020.
- ^ a b c d Land, German Protestant Institutions in the Holy. "Evangelisch in Jerusalem - German Protestant Institutions in the Holy Land". Evangelisch-in-jerusalem.org. Archived from the original on 18 November 2018. Retrieved 24 April 2018.
- ^ Land, German Protestant Institutions in the Holy. "Evangelisch in Jerusalem - German Protestant Institutions in the Holy Land". Evangelisch-in-jerusalem.org. Archived from the original on 25 April 2018. Retrieved 24 April 2018.
- ^ "Jerusalem Architecture - Periods and Styles, European Christian Buildings Outside the Old City Walls, 1855-1918," David Kroyanker, Keter, 1987 (Hebrew)
- ^ a b c d e f "Fliedner Kulturstiftung Kaiserswerth, Bestand 3-2/1: Kaiserin Auguste Victoria-Stiftung, pp. 3-5" (PDF). Fliedner-kulturstiftung.de. Retrieved 24 April 2018.
- ^ a b The Lutheran World Federation - Department for World Service — Jerusalem - History Archived 2009-01-19 at the Wayback Machine
- ^ a b Jewish Center for Jewish-Christian Relations Archived February 27, 2009, at the Wayback Machine
- ^ "Israel News - The Jerusalem post". Jpost.com. Retrieved 24 April 2018.
- ^ Commander E H Hutchison USNR "Violent Truce: A Military Observer Looks at the Arab-Israeli Conflict 1951-1955", Chapter III: The Barrel Incident, p 20-30
- ^ a b "LWF Jerusalem cancer hospital a center of excellence". Lutheranworld.org. 26 May 2016. Retrieved 24 April 2018.
- ^ a b c d "Breaking News, World News & Multimedia". The New York Times. Retrieved 24 April 2018.
- ^ Palestine. "WHO EMRO - East Jerusalem Hospital Network - Programmes - Palestine". Emro.who.int. Retrieved 24 April 2018.
- ^ "AVH website".
- ^ Land, German Protestant Institutions in the Holy. "Evangelisch in Jerusalem - German Protestant Institutions in the Holy Land". Evangelisch-in-jerusalem.org. Archived from the original on 25 April 2018. Retrieved 24 April 2018.
- ^ "Mahaba Nursery and Preschool on the Mount of Olives". Elcjhl.org. 5 November 2012. Retrieved 24 April 2018.
- ISBN 0-8050-4848-0.