Review: "Gaza Medic" by Richard Villar

Gaza Medic by Richard Villar
Published October 2024 via Pen and Sword Military
★★★

Every day is a mass casualty day. (loc. 1456*)

Villar is an England-based surgeon, but he also has what sounds like extensive experience volunteering in conflict zones. His most recent travels took him to Gaza (not for the first time) in April of 2024 for a two-week stint providing medical care to locals. (See note about politics at the end of this review.)

I read this largely because although I read quite a lot of news (four news apps send me notifications, and chances are good that I've already read the article by the time the notification come through), it has felt difficult to grasp the scope of the situation in Gaza; sometimes it can be helpful to read a deeper dive of one person's experiences and observations. Villar is, for obvious reasons, focused on the medical situation in Gaza, and he points to things that I would not have thought to wonder about. Take some of the things he says about infection:

Back home in the UK, I work on an infection rate of 0.25 per cent of my patients. Even that small percentage distresses me. After the GMR [Great March of Return, in 2018], an infection rate of 80 per cent was normal. (loc. 127).

And in 2024: A war surgeon should think infection from the moment they first see a patient and keep thinking infection until it is time for the patient to be discharged. The infection rate at Al Aqsa Hospital was 100 per cent. Every wound was infected – a feature of circumstance. (loc. 929)

The score used by the IRC for Infection Prevention Control (IPC) allowed a maximum (best) score of 100 per cent. The pass mark was 75 per cent but Al Aqsa Hospital scored 29 per cent. This was far below what it should be, did not surprise me, and went a fair way to explain the hospital's huge infection rate. (loc. 1968)

Elsewhere, Villar describes the unique experience, in modern war surgery, of patients' families coming forward with phones in hand, each showing photos of their injured loved ones and begging for help; he makes estimates of a million or more surgeries needed in Gaza even if the war were to end in April and no more injuries were incurred, because so many injuries need so many surgeries over time.

As a book, it's not great. It's based on Villar's diaries from the time, which means (by the nature of diaries) that it's often repetitious and doesn't always have satisfactory answers. Although some of the numbers Villar mentions are striking, there weren't sources provided, so I'd want to check other sources as well (including for the infection rates mentioned above); moreover, the war has now doubled in length since Villar was in Gaza, meaning that some of the numbers, even assuming they were correct then, are simply outdated. That said, I have my eye on a few more recent and upcoming books about this war, from people of various backgrounds, and I expect there will be many more to come. This was a decent starting point to get a glimpse into an experience that is not mine and that can feel too big to grasp.

A note on politics: Villar notes many times throughout the book that he is a medic, not a politician. It is important to remain apolitical in warfare, he writes, and not to be seen to support any side. (loc. 1162) He may have managed that for the two weeks he spent in Gaza, but his personal opinions are very clear in the book. I guessed this going in (I don't expect that many books from volunteers in Gaza who are gung-ho about the Israeli government), but if you are gung-ho about the Israeli government (I don't particularly want to get into politics in a review either, but please note the distinction between government and people), this is not going to be the book for you; feel free to politely close this tab and look elsewhere.

Thanks to the author and publisher for providing a review copy through NetGalley.

*Quotes are from an ARC and may not be final.