Against occupation, a new partnership brings ultrasound training and hope to The west bank

In the occupied West Bank, even reaching a hospital can take hours. Healthcare workers in Nablus often face multiple checkpoints on their way to Rafidia Hospital; barriers that separate patients from life-saving care. Since the escalation of violence in Gaza in October 2023, the WHO has documented hundreds of assaults on healthcare facilities and personnel across the occupied territories, worsening an already dire shortage of medical equipment and access.

Last month, EP joined our partners at HEAL Palestine assisting an ultrasound training program for emergency and surgical teams at Rafidia Hospital. EP donated Butterfly portable ultrasound devices with tablets to the hospital’s Emergency Department and Operating Room; diagnostic tools now confirmed to be fully operational. In a region where most providers still treat patients without imaging, these devices represent a vital step toward equity and autonomy in care.

Their journey tells a larger story: initially destined for a cancelled USAID-supported program in Africa, the ultrasounds were redirected by EP to immediate use—first during refugee-care missions in Jordan, then as teaching tools at our Wadi Rum Global Health Conference, and now in the hands of Palestinian clinicians using them daily for both diagnostics and procedural guidance.

We extend our gratitude to HEAL Palestine, the staff at Rafidia Hospital, and all supporters who made this possible. Amid occupation and constraint, placing an ultrasound probe in a provider’s hand is more than an act of medicine, it is an act of hope.