A Tale of Two Arab Doctors on the Frontlines of the Coronavirus: One Arab American, the other a Palestinian Inside Israel

posted on: Apr 1, 2020

By: John Mason/Arab America Contributing Writer

The coronavirus pandemic has spread around the world. The virus has generated myriad stories, of which the following are only two. But these are important stories for a different reason, one for the opportunities available for Arab American health specialists to serve, the other for the gallant service given by a Palestinian Arab inside Israel in a society where being Arab makes one a second class citizen.

Egyptian-American doctor co-develops COVID-19 test

Dr. Heba Mostafa, Egyptian-America is on the frontlines of combating COVID-19; According to an interview with Al-Masry Al-Youm, early on in the unfolding of the Coronavirus had completely rejected the conspiracy theory that the virus was manmade, created in either a Chinese or U.S. lab as a biological weapon. An Assistant Professor of Pathology at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine in Baltimore, Maryland, and director of the Molecular Virology Laboratory, Mostafa discussed the latest developments in the coronavirus test. She reported that research had begun on patients’ antibodies following their contraction of the virus and recovery from the illness and that clinical trials from treatments had also begun. Mostafa has been involved in her role as a microbiologist in co-developing the Johns Hopkins version of a test for the coronavirus. This test could shortly be used with as many as 1,000 patients in screening for the virus.

Palestinian Arab Physician from inside Israel Fights Coronavirus as First-class Doctor but Second-class Citizen

Palestinian Arab Israelis comprise 17% of Israeli physicians, 24% of nurses, and 47% of pharmacists and they are now fighting the coronavirus to save Jewish, Muslim and Christian lives 24/7. Serving at Sheba Medical Center in Tel Hashomer, Dr. Suad Haj Yihye was interviewed by Haaretz after completing a 12-hour emergency room shift. She and her Arab husband, a surgeon, and their 3-year old son, live outside of Tel Aviv.

Dr. Yihye was interviewed just at the moment that Prime Minister Netanyahu was claiming that Arabs were dangerous and not to be trusted as representatives in the Knesset, even during the coronavirus pandemic. His remarks reflected the possibility that his then opponent for the head of government, Benny Gantz, was going to make a deal with the Arab bloc of the Knesset.

Dr. Yihye spoke with Haaretz: “I treat everyone who comes to the hospital, it has never and it will never matter to me if they are Jewish or Arab; every person, no matter their race or gender, will get the best care from me,” she says. “When I come home from the emergency room after I’ve given my all to treat everyone and hear the prime minister say that we have to form a national unity government to deal with the crisis – but without the Arabs as if we are second-rate citizens – it hurts. Why is it OK for us to be on the front lines in the hospitals dealing with corona, but not legitimate for us to be in the government?”

“It’s sad to hear the prime minister refer to me as a ticking threat, when in fact we are the ones who are neutralizing the danger and saving patients,” says Yihye. “In the hospitals the work of Jewish-Arab teams together is work together, shoulder to shoulder, without any distinctions.”

According to Haaretz, Arab doctors serving in many Israeli hospitals are “willing to cooperate with the disconnect in the national discourse between the health crisis and the political crisis. Most of the doctors Haaretz approached were not only shocked at the prospect that they might refuse to treat people during a crisis because of racism against them, but many also refused to even answer questions about their experiences with bigotry or discrimination.”

This brief description of two Arab doctors who are fighting the coronavirus shows that Arab physicians are valued in the countries where they serve. In the case of the Arab American doctor and the Palestinian Arab Israeli doctor, they are fulfilling urgent needs, respectively, one as a researcher into the virus itself, the other as a hospital emergency care physician treating patients with the virus. In each case, their work is invaluable, rendered without reference to culture, religion, age, gender or politics. But that’s where the similarities end. In the U.S., Dr. Mostafa and her Arab American community are for the most part treated with respect both in and outside the workplace. This is not the case for Dr. Yihye, who along with her Arab-Israeli community are generally treated as second class citizens. That’s a virus of another kind, perhaps harder to eliminate than the virulent coronavirus.

References

“Egyptian doctor who helped develop new COVID-19 test says virus not man-made,” Al- Masry Al-Youm, 3/23/20

“Arab Israelis Fight Coronavirus as First-class Doctors but Second-class Citizens,” Haaretz, 3/17/20

John Mason, PhD., who focuses on Arab culture, society, and history, is the author of LEFT-HANDED IN AN ISLAMIC WORLD: An Anthropologist’s Journey into the Middle East, New Academia Publishing, 2017. He has taught at the University of Libya, Benghazi, Rennselaer Polytechnic Institute in New York, and the American University in Cairo; John served with the United Nations in Tripoli, Libya and consulted extensively on socioeconomic and political development for USAID and the World Bank in 65 countries.

Check out our Blog here!