Gaza Healthcare Services on Verge of Collapse: WHO
Fri Jul 11, 2014 4:19AM GMT
presstv.ir
The World Health Organization (WHO) says health services are on the verge of collapse in the besieged Gaza Strip amid escalating Israeli attacks.
The UN health agency said on Thursday that Gaza has faced severe shortages in medicines and fuel for hospital generators.
“The recent escalation of violence in the Gaza Strip raises concern about the ability of the government and the Ministry of Health of the occupied Palestinian territory to cope with the increased burden of medical emergencies on the health system, given the high levels of shortages of medicines, medical disposables and hospital fuel supplies, and rising healthcare debt,” WHO said in a statement.
Around 100 Palestinians have been killed in the ongoing Israeli offensive against the coastal enclave which started on Tuesday. According to Palestinian sources, one third of the casualties are women and children.
“A hospital, three clinics and a water desalinization center in a refugee camp have also been damaged. More airstrikes and missile attacks are likely,” WHO said of the Israeli attacks.
The Health Ministry in Gaza has only 10 days of fuel reserves for hospitals during frequent power cuts while state health workers have not received their salaries in recent months.
Elective surgeries have been stopped in hospitals in the past week as they are only carrying out life-saving ones, WHO added.
The organization called on donors for USD40 million for essential healthcare supplies through year-end and a further USD20 million toward the debt owed to East al-Quds (Jerusalem) hospitals which receive cancer patients from Gaza and the occupied West Bank.
Dr. Ala Alwan, WHO regional director, said that the situation was similar in 2008–2009 and in 2012 in the Gaza Strip, when stocks were low and medicines were urgently required.
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| Palestinians under siege by the US-backed Israeli regime. |
presstv.ir
The World Health Organization (WHO) says health services are on the verge of collapse in the besieged Gaza Strip amid escalating Israeli attacks.
The UN health agency said on Thursday that Gaza has faced severe shortages in medicines and fuel for hospital generators.
“The recent escalation of violence in the Gaza Strip raises concern about the ability of the government and the Ministry of Health of the occupied Palestinian territory to cope with the increased burden of medical emergencies on the health system, given the high levels of shortages of medicines, medical disposables and hospital fuel supplies, and rising healthcare debt,” WHO said in a statement.
Around 100 Palestinians have been killed in the ongoing Israeli offensive against the coastal enclave which started on Tuesday. According to Palestinian sources, one third of the casualties are women and children.
“A hospital, three clinics and a water desalinization center in a refugee camp have also been damaged. More airstrikes and missile attacks are likely,” WHO said of the Israeli attacks.
The Health Ministry in Gaza has only 10 days of fuel reserves for hospitals during frequent power cuts while state health workers have not received their salaries in recent months.
Elective surgeries have been stopped in hospitals in the past week as they are only carrying out life-saving ones, WHO added.
The organization called on donors for USD40 million for essential healthcare supplies through year-end and a further USD20 million toward the debt owed to East al-Quds (Jerusalem) hospitals which receive cancer patients from Gaza and the occupied West Bank.
Dr. Ala Alwan, WHO regional director, said that the situation was similar in 2008–2009 and in 2012 in the Gaza Strip, when stocks were low and medicines were urgently required.
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