The latest episode of PalCast, “I Hate To See Anyone Suffer – A Paediatrician in Gaza,” featured Dr. Belal Adnan Abuiyada, a paediatrician working amid the devastating consequences of the ongoing genocide in Gaza. In conversation with hosts Yousef and Tony, Dr. Adnan shared his experiences treating children, witnessing the suffering of families and navigating a healthcare system pushed to the brink of collapse. Alongside his medical work, he writes on Instagram about displacement, grief, memory and the moments of tenderness that persist despite the devastation, offering a deeply personal perspective on lives too often reduced to headlines.
Dr. Belal described the lasting psychological effects of war on children, including nightmares, bedwetting, speech difficulties and social withdrawal. He recounted the case of a nine-year-old boy with diabetes who stopped speaking and interacting after spending a month in a coma in hospital. The child continued to struggle emotionally, cried when separated from his parents and had stopped attending school. Beyond the immediate trauma of violence and injury, the conversation explored how overcrowded shelters, poor sanitation and inadequate ventilation contributed to recurring skin diseases, gastrointestinal illnesses and respiratory problems. Famine had also taken a toll on children’s development, with nutritional deficiencies linked to delayed walking and speech, as well as problems with tooth development.
The crisis had also profoundly shaped Dr. Belal’s own life. Displaced from his hometown of Juhr al-Dik since October 7, 2023, he had moved between several locations, while his family struggled to survive in an unfinished flat without a bathroom and with unreliable access to water and electricity. His hometown had been levelled and remained inaccessible, close friends had been lost, and his sister’s education had been delayed by two years. Through stories of mothers struggling to secure food and water, protect their children from rats and obtain medical treatment, he illustrated the immense burdens families faced each day. He also highlighted the collapse of essential healthcare services, explaining that many conditions could be treated if hospitals, medicines and diagnostic equipment were available. While vaccines continued to arrive through the World Health Organization, insulin remained difficult to obtain. For Dr. Belal, these outcomes were not inevitable: a ceasefire and access to humanitarian aid could help prevent further suffering.
Despite the circumstances, Dr. Belal said he would choose paediatrics again, reflecting his commitment to caring for children even when the resources needed to save and protect them were absent. His conversation with PalCast offered a sobering account of the physical and emotional consequences of the crisis, while bringing attention to the families and individual lives behind the statistics. Recording difficulties arose in the context of the challenging circumstances surrounding the episode, but the conversation remained focused on the realities facing Gaza’s children and the people caring for them. The episode is available now on Apple Podcasts and Spotify. Listen to “I Hate To See Anyone Suffer – A Paediatrician in Gaza,” and share the episode with others to help bring these experiences to a wider audience!