GAZA — The director of Al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza City said that “there has been no change in the situation” for hospitals in the Gaza Strip, which are still facing a shortage of many medicines and medical supplies.
“There is a severe shortage of medications for chronic diseases, and no chemotherapy is available for cancer patients. There are also no medicines for dialysis patients,” hospital Director Dr. Mohammed Abu Salmiya told CNN.
“Malnutrition among children under five continues, and no therapeutic nutrition supplies have been delivered,” Abu Salmiya said.
“There is a serious shortage of laboratory and imaging equipment, as well as a lack of surgical drugs and supplies, particularly for orthopedic, vascular, neurosurgery, and cardiac surgeries, in addition to the absence of cardiac catheterization supplies,” the doctor added.
The World Health Organization said it has been “scaling up deliveries of medical supplies to health facilities” since the ceasefire went into effect. The WHO said it has dispatched more than 220 pallets of essential medicines and medical supplies to aid delivery partners that support hospitals across Gaza.
The WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus has said some of those stocks — three trucks of surgical and essential medical supplies — will be transferred to Al-Shifa Hospital.
“We call for sustained access and donor support to continue, so we can ensure Gaza’s health system’s rehabilitation,” Tedros said in a social media post.
But Abu Salmiya told CNN that “unfortunately, these are only very basic medical consumables” like syringes, gloves and catheters, and the supplies do not cover “the severe shortage of many essential medicines, especially those for cancer and chronic diseases,” nor the urgent need for lab equipment. — CNN