JOHN Swinney has said that Scotland’s NHS is ready to treat injured Palestinian children.
In an exclusive article for The National, the First Minister said that the Scottish Government is looking to medically evacuate children suffering from injuries caused by Israel’s ongoing genocide in Gaza.
He added, however, that this “requires the support of the UK Government” and revealed that he has already written to Prime Minister Keir Starmer urging him to support the evacuations to hospitals in Scotland.
It comes as more than 50,000 children have been killed or injured by Israel since Hamas’s October 7 attack, according to Unicef.
Swinney said that he had met with the UN agency earlier this week to discuss medical evacuations.
“With hospitals destroyed and medical supplies running out, this is an emergency and a race against time to provide specialist medical care for the children and babies suffering from injuries caused by the war,” the SNP leader wrote.
“Scotland’s world-class National Health Service stands ready to play our full part in supporting these medical evacuations and the treatment of injured Palestinian children.”
He added: “This requires the support of the UK Government, and I have asked the Prime Minister to support facilitating a transfer of these children, who need medical care to survive, to Scotland.”
Swinney’s predecessor, Humza Yousaf, previously said that Scottish hospitals can help treat injured Gaza civilians if they are medically evacuated.
He added, however, that “no request has been made” for the UK to receive medical evacuations from Gaza at that time.
Since then, Israel has killed more than 57,000 Palestinians, more than half of them women and children, according to Gaza’s health ministry.
Meanwhile, around 640 Palestinians have been killed and more than 4500 injured while seeking aid between May 27 and July 2, the ministry said as it warned the health system in the region is close to collapse.
Speaking out about the death toll amongst children recently, the deputy manager of aid organisation Médecins Sans Frontières/Doctors Without Borders (MSF) said the children of Gaza are being “decimated”.
“This disregard for children’s lives clearly indicates that this war run by Israel in Gaza is against all Palestinians. The children of Gaza are being decimated,” Amande Bazerolle said.
“Israel’s allies must put all their efforts to end the genocide taking place before our very eyes.”
The Prime Minister has been approached for comment.
