Amid the continuous bombing launched by Israel on the Gaza Strip since last Saturday, large numbers of wounded are arriving around the clock via ambulances or private vehicles, as paramedics rush to admit the injured to hospitals suffering from an acute shortage of medical supplies, with doctors working in the Strip warning of the repercussions of deterioration. The health sector and that treatment centers should be turned into “mass graves.”
Gaza’s hospitals were overflowing with the wounded, as the beds could no longer accommodate the numbers arriving, forcing some of the injured to lie down on the floor of the corridors and rooms waiting for their turn to relieve their pain. Some of them were lucky enough to receive treatment and undergo surgical operations, without securing a bed for them to stay the night to complete their recovery journey. Some of them die before a doctor can examine them, according to what was confirmed by the Director General of Al-Shifa Medical Complex, the largest complex in the Gaza Strip, Dr. Muhammad Abu Salima, to Al-Hurra website.
“The situation has gotten out of control,” according to Abu Salmiya. “The complex’s bed capacity reaches 500 beds, but there are now nearly a thousand wounded and sick people, that is, double the rate, and the intensive care departments are completely filled.”
The situation is not better at the European Gaza Hospital. When the injured arrive there, “doctors sort them according to the seriousness of their injury, and treatment of cases threatening death begins,” the most important of which, according to its director, Dr. Youssef Al-Akkad, are “head injuries, then blood vessels, that is, bleeding, then the abdomen, pelvis, and finally the bone.” The priority is As he says, “to save the lives of the wounded.”
Abu Salamiya also confirmed that “the comparison between one wounded person and another has begun, as priority is given to critical cases.”
On the first day of the war, “303 wounded people arrived at the Gaza European Hospital, including those who were treated on the ground, and some of them bled to death before it was their turn to enter the operating room.”
But now, as Al-Aqqad points out, “we remove the injured the next day from undergoing surgery in order to make room for other wounded to receive treatment,” pointing to the increase in the number of people coming to the hospital “after the violent Israeli bombing of the Khan Yunis and Rafah governorates, knowing that more than 60 percent Among the wounded and dead who arrived were women and children.”
Israel launched raids on the Gaza Strip and announced the imposition of a siege on it following the bloodiest attack on civilians in the history of the Hebrew state, which was carried out by Hamas last Saturday.
The attack launched by Hamas, which targeted civilians in addition to military headquarters, resulted in the killing of hundreds and the kidnapping of dozens, most of them civilians, including children and women.
The Israeli Public Broadcasting Corporation said that the number of Israeli deaths as a result of the Hamas attack, which is classified as a terrorist organization, has risen to more than 1,300 people.
The Israeli response, which targeted large areas of Gaza, also resulted in the deaths of hundreds, most of them civilians, including children and women.
The Gaza Ministry of Health confirmed on Saturday that 2,200 Palestinians had been killed in Israeli air strikes on the besieged Strip since last Saturday.
The Gaza Strip is subjected to constant bombardment in response to an attack launched by Hamas against Israeli towns, a comprehensive shortage
The matter does not stop at the large numbers of wounded and the pressure they place on medical personnel in Gaza. Rather, it goes beyond an acute shortage of all medical supplies and medicines, including anesthesia drugs.
Al-Aqqad says: “There is an acute shortage of these medications, but we cannot perform any operation without them,” while Abu Salmiya confirmed that “anesthesia medications are starting to run out, as well as medical consumables for operations, so some operations we perform without anesthesia.”
Even the injured person undergoing surgery and its success does not mean his survival, with the sterilization equipment being stopped in some hospitals, due to the high level of salinity of the artesian water used for this, as a result of the interruption of drinking water.
The director of the Gaza European Hospital confirms that “lack of sterilization will inevitably lead to patients suffering from infections and thus death, so we try as much as possible to seek help from other hospitals for sterilization or to purchase safe water, which is a very complicated process,” which Abu Salamiya confirmed by saying: “There is a major sterilization crisis in the hospital.” “.
Regarding providing blood units for the injured, Al-Aqqad answered, “We have no shortage. Hospitals always announce donation campaigns. A large number of people respond to the call, but the problem is that the European Gaza Hospital is far from the city center. Hence, some may find it difficult to reach in light of the current situation.” Some of them are also afraid to come while the area is being bombed.”
Abu Salamiya stresses, “The situation is tragic. Some non-governmental hospitals and some institutions provide us with donations, but they do not cover even the minimum of what we need. Before the war, we suffered from a severe shortage of medicines and medical supplies, so how now?”
The Ministry of Health in Gaza warned that the lack of medical supplies and medicines would lead to a “catastrophic” situation, especially “after Israel tightened its siege on the Gaza Strip,” noting that “eight hospitals are not enough to deal with all cases in the Gaza Strip, which has a population of 2.3 million people, despite declaring a state of emergency and calling all medical teams to work.”
The high number of infections and deaths has put pressure on the Gaza Strip’s hospitals, which are already suffering from a lack of resources. “The collapse of the health system.”
Hospitals in Gaza suffer from water scarcity and near power outages, as they currently rely on generators that need fuel to operate.
Al-Aqqad says: “The remaining quantities of fuel will be exhausted, and therefore the electricity will be cut off, and this will lead to the stopping of medical gas machines (including oxygen), which means that all patients in intensive care will die within a minute.”
This is also the case, says Al-Aqqad, in the child nursery departments. “For example, in the hospital we have a nursery department for children who are not more than two weeks old, and an intensive care department for children who are more than four weeks old. These people will die as a result of the life support machines stopping working.”
It is also not possible to perform operations without oxygen devices, and Al-Aqqad says: “We are facing the risk of the health system collapsing in the next few hours or days, if the situation continues as it is.”
Al-Aqqad’s words are confirmed by Abu Salamiya, saying, “A power outage means that hospitals are out of service and turn into mass graves, after the injured in intensive care, critical departments, dialysis departments, and incubators are sentenced to death.”
Many patients lose their lives before doctors can see them due to pressure on medical personnel
The International Committee of the Red Cross noted that “hospitals in Gaza are turning into morgues due to the cessation of medical equipment due to the power outage.”
These hospitals received a painful blow with the announcement by Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Galant, last Monday, of imposing a complete siege on the Gaza Strip, including water, electricity, and fuel.
On Thursday, the World Health Organization warned that the health system in Gaza had “reached the breaking point,” confirming that 34 attacks on health care facilities in the Strip had been documented since last Saturday, according to what it reported on its website.
The organization said, “Time is running out to prevent a humanitarian catastrophe if fuel and life-saving health and humanitarian supplies are not urgently delivered to the Gaza Strip amid the complete blockade.”
“The breaking point has been reached.” The World Health Organization documents the number of attacks on the medical sector in Gaza
The World Health Organization warned on Thursday that the health system in Gaza had “reached the breaking point,” confirming that 34 attacks on health care facilities in the Strip had been documented since Saturday, according to what it reported on its website.
Doctors face “impossible choices”
At a time when Gaza’s hospitals need all their medical staff, the members of these teams face difficulty in arriving, especially those who live in places far from their work centers, where, according to Al-Aqqad, there is a danger to their lives from the bombing.
He explains, “Some of them are unable to arrive, and some of them stay in the hospital for two or three days or do not even leave, which has a negative impact on their performance. On Friday, three of our most important medical staff were killed as a result of their homes being bombed.”
One of the problems faced by hospitals in the Gaza Strip is that thousands of residents resort to them to take refuge from the bombing, which creates additional confusion and pressure on doctors and nurses.
Al-Aqqad says: “They mistakenly believe that hospitals are a safe place, even though some of them were not exempt from the bombing, such as the hospitals of Al-Durra, Al-Aqsa Martyrs, Al-Awda, the International Eye Hospital, and other hospitals that went out of service after being bombed, either directly, partially, or in their surroundings.”
“The situation is tragic and very dangerous, something that hospitals in the Gaza Strip have never experienced before,” according to Abu Salamiya, who stressed the need to “intervene immediately to open safe corridors for the entry of medical supplies, medicines, and fuel.”
Fuel is running out and families are struggling to survive.. How do the people of Gaza face the “bombing and siege duality”?
Over the past few days, the Israeli army has launched continuous air strikes on the Gaza Strip, in response to Hamas attacks against Israeli towns adjacent to the Strip, in addition to imposing a complete siege in which the supplies of electricity, water and food were cut off from the Strip, which has already been under siege for many years.
The United Nations reported that tens of thousands of Palestinians were displaced on Friday from Gaza City towards the south of the Strip, after the Israeli army asked civilians to leave towards the south “to protect themselves”, which suggests that a large ground operation will take place.
The Israeli evacuation orders included 22 hospitals in the Gaza Strip, and this put doctors and health workers before a “painful choice,” according to what the World Health Organization said.
On Saturday, the organization called on Israel to immediately withdraw evacuation orders for hospitals in northern Gaza, after the Israeli army called on civilians to move south and evacuate hospitals.
The organization called for the protection of health facilities, health sector workers, patients and civilians.
The organization said that, as the United Nations agency responsible for public health, it “strongly condemns Israel’s repeated orders to evacuate 22 hospitals treating more than 2,000 patients in northern Gaza.”
The World Health Organization calls on Israel to withdraw hospital evacuation orders in northern Gaza
On Saturday, the World Health Organization called on Israel to immediately withdraw evacuation orders for hospitals in northern Gaza, after the Israeli army called on civilians to move south.
“Forced evacuation of patients and health workers will exacerbate the existing humanitarian and public health catastrophe,” he added.
The organization explained in a statement, “Hospital directors and health workers now face a painful choice: abandon seriously ill patients in the middle of the bombing campaign, or put their lives in danger while remaining on site to treat patients, or put the lives of their patients in danger while trying to transfer them to facilities that do not have the capacity to receive them.” “.
The organization continued, “Overwhelmingly, caregivers chose to stay and fulfill their oath as health professionals, rather than risk transporting their seriously ill patients during evacuations,” noting that “health workers should never have to make such impossible choices.”
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2023-10-14 23:10:17
