UKZN Co-hosts Health Justice Event – Rising from Under the Rubble
In a powerful demonstration of ethical activism and solidarity, UKZN’s College of Health Sciences (CHS), in partnership with Healthcare Workers 4 Palestine – South Africa (HCW4P-SA), hosted an emotionally charged film screening and panel discussion titled: “Health Sciences for Justice”.
The screening took place on the former University of Durban-Westville (UDW) campus – a site once central to anti-apartheid resistance.
At the heart of the event was the screening of Under the Rubble, an Al Jazeera 360 documentary that intimately follows the medical teams at Kamal Adwan Hospital in Gaza, working under siege to provide lifesaving care amid relentless bombardment.
The event drew academics, health professionals, students and activists, many of whom were visibly moved by the film’s depiction of resilience, despair and moral courage. Former rector of UDW, Professor Jairam Reddy, was also present.
Opening the programme, occupational therapist and HCW4P-SA representative Ms Aneesa Moosa, spoke about South Africa’s own history of state violence going on to say: ‘Over 1 200 healthcare workers have been killed in Gaza. Medical professionals have been imprisoned, tortured and starved. Gaza’s healthcare system has been deliberately dismantled – and the silence of global professional bodies is deafening,’ she said. ‘What happens when those who are supposed to uphold ethical standards fail us? We reclaim care as resistance.’
Convenor of the event and occupational therapist Dr Chantal Christopher described the event as both provocative and promising. ‘This is the first in a series of justice-centred health events at UKZN. What is health if not a battleground? Today, Gaza reflects back to us the deep structural inequalities that shape global health. We must reject neutrality in the face of suffering.’
The 45-minute documentary offered an unflinching look at life inside a Gaza hospital in the heat of siege conditions. Doctors operating by flashlight, patients arriving in droves and wards reduced to rubble – yet staff remained, performing the sacred work of healing with little more than courage.
The film left the audience in stunned silence, later broken by quiet sobs and clenched fists. ‘This was not just a screening…it was a reckoning,’ said an audience member.
A thought-provoking panel discussion followed, moderated by Professor Monique Marks, a practising clinical social worker, health coach and harm reduction practitioner. ‘As health professionals we are deeply affected by death, trauma and systemic violence,’ said Marks. ‘How do we make sense of our roles in a world that often values power over life?’
The panel featured three speakers offering powerful and diverse insights:
Founder of Gift of the Givers Dr Imtiaz Sooliman emphasised compassion in action. ‘Since the war began, 205 family members of our staff in Gaza have died. But we must keep moving. Hope, action and spiritual commitment will carry us through.’
Palestinian pharmacist and refugee Ms Hanan Qannan spoke through tears as she recalled escaping Gaza with her three children after six harrowing months. ‘We saw bodies in the streets, hospitals without gauze or clean water and doctors operating while starving themselves. I carry Gaza in every word I speak, in every step I take.’
Internationally renowned infectious disease expert Professor Salim Abdool Karim shared how the film took him back to apartheid South Africa. ‘I remember the Inkatha-ANC violence in the 1980s. What we’re witnessing in Gaza is not war – it’s annihilation. Israel is not targeting combatants – it’s destroying healthcare, schools and entire generations. We must rise in protest and solidarity.’
Abdool Karim called on South African universities to support Gazan scholars through research fellowships and student placements. ‘Let us be truth-sayers. Let us provide refuge through education.’
UKZN academic and political analyst Dr Lubna Nadvi urged the University community to join the UKZN Scholars for Palestine movement and ensure that institutional bodies, including Senate, actively take a stand. ‘This is an opportunity for academic solidarity with the oppressed.’
The event was deeply symbolic, held on a campus once synonymous with anti-apartheid activism. ‘In the 1980s, this very ground was a centre of resistance,’ Christopher reminded the audience. ‘Today, we reclaim it – not just to remember, but to act.’
The messages of the day were clear: The health crisis in Gaza is not accidental. It is the result of a sustained campaign of war crimes. The targeting of hospitals, starvation as a weapon of war, and the silencing of healthcare workers are violations of international humanitarian law. And yet, many professional and academic institutions remain silent.
But there is also hope – hope rooted in action, memory and solidarity. Said Sooliman: ‘If I lived to see the end of apartheid, I believe I will live to see a free Palestine too.’
Marks closed the event with a reflection on trauma and duty. ‘Healthcare workers live with grief. We see suffering, and sometimes we carry it in our bodies. But it is in these moments that our role becomes clearest – not just to heal but to defend dignity itself.’
The event reflected the urgent need for healthcare professionals to move beyond clinical spaces and into the political arena. ‘Neutrality is not an option when lives are being lost at this scale,’ Moosa concluded. ‘Healthcare must be an act of liberation. And liberation, like health, is for all.’
Words: MaryAnn Francis
Photograph: Supplied
