Soon after attending a consultation at al-Mowasah Hospital in Amman, Jordan, one morning in June, an eleven-year-old Yemeni girl named Amal slowly makes her way to the hospital courtyard to play on the swings with her new friend, who is originally from Gaza. Amal, who was admitted to the hospital last December, was seeking refuge with her family during the ongoing Yemeni civil war in 2021 when they were in a bus crash resulting from an explosion of unknown origin. She is currently being treated for the injuries she sustained during the attack, including a shoulder injury and severe burn injuries to her scalp.
Amal’s mother quietly watches her daughter play on the swing set. After Amal sustained her injuries, her family tried desperately to get her proper treatment in Yemen, but struggled to do so with their limited resources and savings. “It was like doomsday when my daughter was injured,” she says. “It was so severe it looked like someone had poured molten lava over her head. As a mother, watching your child suffer in agony is indescribable.”
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Amal and her mother sit in their room at al-Mowasah Hospital.
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Amal is being treated at al-Mowasah Hospital for war-related injuries.
Amal and her family were flown into Jordan from Yemen by the Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF, also known as Doctors Without Borders) to al-Mowasah Hospital, which provides a sanctuary for families like Amal’s amid the brutal consequences of conflict in the Middle East.
The hospital, which officially partnered with MSF in 2015, specializes in reconstructive surgeries. It was originally established in 2006 to treat patients wounded during the Iraq War. In subsequent years, as conflict-related injuries have surged, the hospital began admitting patients from Syria, Yemen, and Palestine. More recently, it has also treated patients from Somalia.
“These past few years have been worse than a nightmare,” Amal’s mother says. “There hasn't been a single night when the whole family didn’t cry over her condition. But by the grace of the Almighty, we got the chance to come here, and seeing her wounds heal with each passing day makes my heart bloom.”
She wipes the tears spilling from her eyes. “I pray for every patient admitted [to] this hospital, not just for my daughter. This hospital is not just a treatment center—it’s where ordinary people like us, victims of conflict, find a ray of hope.”
As of May 11, the hospital has performed more than 18,000 surgeries and served more than 8,000 patients with severe injuries caused by improvised explosive devices (IEDs), shrapnel, rockets, bullets, sniper drones, or collapsed buildings. Dr. Muthana al-Rayyan, who has been working at the hospital for the past five years as an orthopaedic surgeon, says al-Mowasah Hospital has specialized capacity to treat complex war injuries, including complicated orthopaedic cases as well as injuries to the head, neck, face, and jaw. Patients who arrive in Amman, he says, have been treated for a prolonged period at other hospitals in their home countries with “failed” or “unsatisfactory” results. But at al-Mowasah, clinicians have the resources to offer more holistic focus on what they call “saving the lamp”—providing care that restores a patients’ physical function, enhances their quality of life, and emphasizes their overall wellbeing.
“As soon as the patients arrive, we decide on the most suitable treatment, which might take from months to years to reach our end goal,” al-Rayyan says. “All our patients are from war zones where doctors aim to save lives, not the lamp. But the mission here is to save the lamp. Our priority is physical and mental recovery.”
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Dr. Muthana al-Rayyan during his rounds at al-Mowasah Hospital in Amman, Jordan.
Each week, the hospital administration and medical experts hold review meetings to assess patient cases who were referred to al-Mowasah Hospital by MSF doctors in other countries. Those deemed treatable—meaning they are stable enough to be transported and their condition is treatable at the hospital—in the MSF’s review meetings are flown by MSF into Amman for care at the hospital. In 2024, the hospital averaged 104 active patients per month, though it can treat up to 150 patients, according to MSF. In addition to surgery, the hospital provides physiotherapy, psychosocial support, and in-hospital accommodations for war-wounded patients throughout the treatment process. With increased funding, the hospital would be able to treat more patients and expand the range of social activities it offers to support patients, says Dr. Hani Isleem, MSF project coordinator for medical evacuations in Gaza.
Al-Rayyan says the hospital is not just a regular workplace—it’s a second home.
“All of my patients here are victims of war with gruesome injuries, so working here is nothing like being in a regular hospital,” he says. “Every time I meet a patient for the first time, my heart aches—especially when it’s a child.”
Sajida, a twenty-nine-year-old who works as a peer counselor at the hospital, says she feels blessed every time a patient is satisfied after sessions with her. For her, the job isn’t just about making money—it’s about being a changemaker and bringing confidence back into the lives of her patients, many of whom have lost everything before arriving at the hospital, from their homes to their families, and struggle to find hope for the future.
“Some patients get emotional while leaving the hospital, particularly the children and female patients,” Sajida says. “It’s difficult to say goodbye, but I quickly remind myself that I did my job and achieved my goals. I tell them, ‘Don't let go of your resilience and confidence in life.’ [To] me, all of them are warriors.”
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Sajida, a peer counselor at al-Mowasah Hospital, conducts a counseling session for children from various parts of the Middle East affected by conflict.
The MSF estimates that up to 13,000 people, including more than 4,500 children, in Gaza need to be medically evacuated to receive health care, including many who need burn care or reconstructive surgery. But because Israel has delayed or denied most evacuation requests, the organization reports that it has been able to medically evacuate only twenty-two patients, including thirteen children, from Gaza to al-Mowasah Hospital.
“We are calling on the Israeli authorities to allow patients to leave Gaza, and to be more flexible in the approval of cases,” Isleem said in July. “We are asking all countries to be on the side of the Gazan people by allowing more and more [patients] to have access to their health care systems, participating in the medical evacuations, and saving the lives of people.”