As the 18th day of the most violent Israeli war on Gaza approaches, warnings are mounting that hospitals will be converted Gaza strip To large morgues for the bodies of martyrs instead of being places for care and hospitalization.
The director of Al-Shifa Medical Hospital – the largest in Gaza – said that they have not yet received any medical supplies or medicines from the aid that entered the Strip. He added to Al Jazeera, “We are now in dire need of every pill, sachet of solution, medical consumables, and surgical tools.”
He continued, “We no longer have room for a single bed inside the hospital,” noting that the wounded are on the streets, and there is no room for new patients.
He added, “Medicines and medical supplies have run out, the intensive care rooms are full, and the operating rooms are working around the clock,” noting that they have been working for a week to differentiate between the wounded in order to save the largest number of injured.
Abu Salmiya warned that fuel would run out and the hospital, which serves approximately 1,400,000 people in northern and central Gaza, would stop. He also pointed out that there were also patients, some of whom needed care, such as patients with kidney failure, cancer, and the heart, in addition to care for infants, women, pregnant women, and obstetrics.
The Ministry of Health announced Gaza stripOn Tuesday evening, there was a “total collapse” of the health system in all hospitals in the Strip, while it demanded Global Health Organization UNRWA quickly delivers fuel and medical supplies to Gaza.
The Undersecretary of the Palestinian Ministry of Health in Gaza, Dr. Yousef Abu Al-Rish, said that the health system in the Strip has reached the stage of complete collapse, despite hospitals opening their doors.
He added in an interview with Al Jazeera that a large portion of medicines and medical supplies have run out, and the clinical capacity of hospitals has been closed.
For his part, the General Director of Hospitals in the Gaza Strip, Dr. Muhammad Zaqout, said that the occupation’s punitive measures threaten to cut off service to some major hospitals, stressing that the lack of fuel reaching them portends a major disaster.
The following infographic, and the detailed information below, presents the reality of what hospitals in Gaza have reached with updated numbers.
Real collapse is imminent
Al Jazeera Net collected from several sources, including the German News Agency, testimonies from officials in the Ministry of Health in Gaza, the Palestinian Red Crescent Society, and representatives of the World Health Organization in Gaza regarding an assessment of what hospitals in the Strip have achieved, and they can be summarized in the following points:
- The capacity of Gaza Strip hospitals is limited to 2,500 beds, while more than 15,000 wounded people have been documented, at a rate of 1,000 wounded per day.
- The World Health Organization documented 115 attacks on healthcare facilities, resulting in the deaths of 16 healthcare workers and the injury of 28 others.
- According to the Ministry of Health in Gaza, 8 hospitals and 21 health centers were out of service as a result of Israeli targeting and fuel exhaustion.
- The large influx of victims is burdening the health system, which was already severely exhausted by the ongoing siege since 2006, and is operating in a state of paralysis due to the lack of medical equipment and materials.
- Before the start of the Israeli attack, hospitals suffered from a severe shortage of 44% of medicines, 32% of medical consumables, and 60% of laboratory and blood bank supplies.
- Hospitals and health services do not have water and necessary medicines and operate in light of power outages and a severe scarcity of almost all resources.
- The power outage crisis led to the cessation of basic medical services, including most departments of the only oncology hospital in the Gaza Strip.
- Measures taken to keep emergency rooms running include suspending some surgeries, working in the dark and limiting the use of elevators. Vital procedures such as sterilization and dialysis may soon stop.
- Since the start of the Israeli attack, Gaza’s hospitals have suffered from a severe shortage of medical consumables and dozens of medicines.
- The large influx of victims into hospitals has led to severe shortages of bandages, anesthetics and disposables.
- Central laboratories face a severe shortage of laboratory supplies and electricity to continue providing service to the infected.
- The capacity of operating rooms in most hospitals in Gaza is unable to deal with the huge number of wounded around the clock.
- Hundreds of seriously ill patients need intensive care units. Babies in incubators could die at any moment due to power outages and lack of oxygen
- There are approximately 50,000 pregnant women in the Gaza Strip who face severe challenges in obtaining prenatal and maternity care due to the risks associated with movement, the disruption of health facilities, and the lack of life-saving supplies, while 5,500 of them will give birth these days with an unknown fate.
- Cases have been documented of women who actually had to give birth on the streets because they did not have homes or a shelter.
- There is a major crisis in dealing with patients who need dialysis, many of whom are threatened with death, including 170 children, because they cannot access dialysis.
- An estimated 20,000 people suffering from mental health conditions were cut off from access to mental health services and medications, were exposed to violence and abuse, and disappeared during the eviction.
- A large percentage of injuries are characterized by severe burns and severe damage to the internal organs and viscera, requiring precise and long-lasting operations.
- The vast majority of the wounded were recovered from under the rubble of their homes, and about 30% to 40% of them were children. They were injured as a result of explosions, shrapnel, and building materials that flew and caused damage to their bodies, or they were crushed under the rubble, making their injuries exposed to severe contamination and requiring repeated surgeries.
- This coincides with a high risk of epidemics spreading in Gaza due to the destruction of water pipes and sewage systems and the absence of any vaccination programs for two weeks.
- Tens of thousands of displaced people flocked to hospital courtyards in various areas of the Gaza Strip in search of safe shelter, which constitutes enormous human pressure.
- Average water consumption for all needs (drinking, cooking and hygiene) is currently estimated at 3 liters per day per person in Gaza. Water consumption from unsafe sources is increasing, exposing the population to the risk of death or the spread of infectious diseases.
- Damage was observed to 26 hospitals and other healthcare facilities, including 17 hospitals and 23 ambulances. 4 of these last centres, all in northern Gaza (Beit Hanoun, Hamad Rehabilitation Corporation, Al Karama, and Al Doura) had to be evacuated and are no longer able to operate.
- 46 medical personnel were martyred and 85 others were injured in Israeli attacks.
The following infographic shows Gaza’s losses as a result of the Israeli aggression until October 20.
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