Medical Aid for Palestine: Dr Tiziana Roggio, Consultant Plastic Surgeon

When hospitals are overcrowded and supplies are scarce, individual doctors often step in to save lives during the most difficult times.

Dr Tiziana Roggio is one of these doctors. She is a consultant plastic and reconstructive surgeon based in London who volunteered in Gaza during the conflict. She worked with Islamic Help and partner groups to provide urgent medical care to civilians.

Dr Roggio’s work highlights the human side of humanitarian aid in Palestine, where skill, courage, and compassion come together under some of the world’s most challenging conditions.

A Surgeon Trained for Complex Care

Dr Tiziana Roggio was born in Italy and is a plastic, reconstructive, and aesthetic surgeon now based in London. She studied medicine at the University of Catania in Italy and completed her specialist training in plastic surgery before moving to the UK. She is a Consultant Plastic Surgeon on the General Medical Council (GMC) Specialist Register and holds the Fellowship of the Royal College of Surgeons (FRCS Plast). Her training includes work at leading UK plastic surgery and trauma centres, such as Guy’s and St Thomas’, the Royal Marsden, and St George’s Hospital in London. She is a consultant at St George’s University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, where she focuses on complex reconstructive surgery.

Her Work in the UK

In the UK, Dr Roggio is known for her expertise in microsurgical reconstruction, especially breast reconstruction after cancer treatment. At St George’s Hospital, she is part of a team that performs many DIEP flap breast reconstructions, helping women recover after breast cancer. Her clinical practice also includes:

• Complex wound and trauma reconstruction.
• Lower-limb and soft-tissue reconstruction.
• Skin cancer surgery.
• Body contouring surgery after significant weight loss.

Alongside her clinical work, Dr Roggio teaches, trains, and mentors junior plastic surgeons. She shares skills that can help save lives in crisis areas.

Volunteering in Gaza: Treating Patients in a War Zone

Despite her successful career in London, Dr Roggio chose to volunteer in Gaza. She used her own annual leave to work in one of the world’s most dangerous and resource-limited medical settings.

She spent about three weeks at Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis, a leading referral hospital in southern Gaza, during the worst part of the conflict. She worked long hours treating patients injured by explosions, shrapnel, and gunfire, often with little equipment, limited anaesthetic, and not enough antibiotics or clean water. Dr Roggio has spoken openly about her experiences, calling it the most severe trauma environment she has ever faced, even compared to major trauma centres in the UK.

Support Doctors on the Frontline in Gaza

Doctors like Dr Tiziana Roggio can only continue their life-saving work with the right support. Your donation helps fund emergency surgery, medical supplies, and hospital care for civilians in Gaza.

Support Islamic Help’s medical missions today

Caring for Gaza’s Children

One of the most complex parts of her work in Gaza was seeing how many children needed surgery. Dr Roggio said that many of her patients were under 15, with traumatic amputations, severe infections, and malnutrition. Gaza has one of the highest rates of child amputees in the world, with many children’s futures shaped by war injuries and limited access to long-term rehabilitation or prosthetic care.

Even after returning to London, Dr Roggio continues to check in on some patients remotely and supports her colleagues in Gaza when possible.

Bearing Witness to a Collapsing Health System

In addition to her surgical work, Dr Roggio has spoken out about what she witnessed in Gaza’s hospitals. She described a health system on the verge of collapse, with many hospitals damaged or destroyed, staff exhausted, and civilians struggling to get even basic care.

She has also spoken publicly about patients injured while waiting for food, overcrowded hospital wards, and the psychological toll on local doctors who keep working despite losing family members. Her testimony is not political. It is medical, humanitarian, and deeply personal. You're human.

Working with Islamic Help

Islamic Help has highlighted Dr Roggio as one of the frontline doctors supporting medical missions to Gaza. She is part of the “Surgeons of Gaza: Bearing Witness” initiative, where experienced surgeons share firsthand accounts of their work in Gaza’s hospitals to raise awareness and funds for ongoing medical aid.

Through Islamic Help, her experiences show donors what humanitarian aid in Palestine truly means, not just in theory, but through real people, real injuries, and real lives saved.

Why Doctors Like Dr Roggio Matter

Dr Tiziana Roggio represents a rare combination: world-class surgical skill with the willingness to use it where it is needed most. Her choice to work in a war zone and treat civilians under fire reflects the values at the heart of Islamic Help’s medical missions, like Dr Roggio, professionals who leave safety behind to bring life-saving medical aid to Gaza and Palestine, even in the most challenging conditions.

Support Medical Aid in Gaza

Islamic Help continues to send medical teams, deliver emergency supplies, and support hospitals caring for civilians affected by conflict.

Support our medical missions today and help save lives in Gaza and Palestine.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

Why are volunteer surgeons needed in Gaza right now?

Gaza’s health system has been devastated by conflict, with many hospitals damaged, destroyed or operating far beyond capacity. Volunteer surgeons support overwhelmed local teams by performing life‑ and limb‑saving operations, helping manage mass‑casualty events and sharing specialist skills that would otherwise be unavailable in a war zone.

How does Islamic Help support doctors like Dr Roggio?

Islamic Help works with frontline surgeons to organise medical missions, provide supplies and raise funds for emergency and reconstructive care in Gaza. Through initiatives like “Surgeons of Gaza: Bearing Witness”, it amplifies testimonies from doctors such as Dr Roggio to show donors exactly how their support translates into surgeries, medicines and hospital aid.

What kinds of injuries are doctors treating in Gaza’s hospitals?

Doctors in Gaza treat large numbers of blast and shrapnel wounds, crush injuries, burns and high‑velocity gunshot injuries, often in children. Many patients require complex amputations, reconstructive surgery and intensive wound care, frequently delivered with minimal anaesthetic, scarce antibiotics and overcrowded wards.

How can medical professionals volunteer to help in Gaza or Palestine?

Experienced surgeons, doctors and nurses can apply to join medical missions run by specialised NGOs that work in Gaza and the wider region. Requirements usually include board certification, relevant trauma or surgical experience, a minimum deployment period and the ability to work in high‑risk, low‑resource environments.

How can I support doctors like Dr Roggio if I’m not a medic?

Non‑medical supporters can help by donating to trusted charities that fund medical teams, field hospitals, surgical supplies and rehabilitation for injured children in Gaza. Regular giving, fundraising events, and sharing verified information about missions, such as those highlighted by Islamic Help, all increase the impact of frontline doctors’ work.

Who is Dr Tiziana Roggio and what does she do in Gaza?

Dr Tiziana Roggio is an Italian‑born consultant plastic and reconstructive surgeon based in London, specialising in complex microsurgical reconstruction. She volunteered at Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis, Gaza, using her annual leave to treat blast, shrapnel and gunshot injuries under severe shortages of equipment, medicines and anaesthetics.