Pedro Sánchez meets with Hans Kluge to coordinate the reception and treatment in Spain of 29 Gazan children diagnosed with cancer

Moncloa Palace, Madrid

The President of the Government of Spain, Pedro Sánchez, hold a meeting with the regional director of the WHO for Europe, Hans Kluge (Pool Moncloa/Fernando Calvo)

The President of the Government of Spain, Pedro Sánchez, has held a meeting at Moncloa Palace with Hans Kluge, regional director of the WHO for Europe, in which the Minister for Health, Mónica García, also participated, with the aim of coordinating the reception and medical treatment of 29 Gazan children who have been diagnosed with cancer or suffered severe trauma as a result of the conflict.

Spain will take in and provide medical treatment to this group of children aged between 1 and 18 years, thereby responding to the appeal made by the World Health Organization, to which the president of the Government of Spain committed himself during his appearance in the Lower House of Parliament on 22 May. It will do so together with the European Union's Emergency Response Coordination Centre, to whom the request has been passed through the National Emergency and Coordination Centre (CENEM).

The patients have various pathologies, mainly oncological and trauma of varying degrees. All of them are currently in the Turkish Hospital inside the Strip. The WHO will be in charge of processing the documentation of the patients and those accompanying them, as well as their transfer to Cairo and then on to Spain. The arrival in our country is being coordinated with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, European Union and Cooperation. They are expected to be received in Spain in the coming weeks.

All minors will be accompanied by at least one family member or responsible adult and the Ministry for Inclusion, Social Security and Migration will cover the costs of board and lodging for family members and patients.

Once in Spain, patients will be treated at hospitals in Barakaldo and Donostia in the Basque Country; Albacete and Toledo in Castilla-La Mancha and at the Hospital Central de la Defensa Gómez Ulla in Madrid. The cost of medical treatment shall be borne by the Ministry of Health. Spain is committed to offering them safe treatment and "giving them what every child deserves, wherever they are born: a childhood of health and hope", as the president of the Government of Spain pointed out.

Non official translation