Bay Area doctors participate in global sick-out to protest lack of medical care in Gaza [Video]

Doctors across the Bay Area and the U.S. called in sick to work on Monday, opting to participate in a series of demonstrations and free clinics. It was part of a national day of action protesting a lack of medical care in Gaza.

One of the events was held on the campus of Stanford University.

“I don’t take sick days,” said Dr. Haleh Sheikholeslami, who works in family medicine in San Carlos. However, she made an exception on Monday, calling in sick for a cause.

Sheikholeslami has seen the situation in Gaza firsthand. She went last year to treat patients in the war zone.

“People are dying and to feel like some of the patients I saw there, who knows how many are alive now,” she said.

Even medical professionals who haven’t traveled to Gaza said the death toll of the war is taking a toll on their mental health.

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