Shortage of medicine and equipment threatens patients' lives in Gaza

The Palestinian Health Ministry stores in Gaza have run out of essential medicines and basic medical equipment, putting the lives of hundreds of patients at risk. The General Pharmacy Manager at the Ministry of Health has warned that the lack of almost 140 drugs and vital equipment is now at a life-threatening stage.

According to Dr. Mounir Al-Parch, without these drugs cancer patients, those with kidney disease and infants are at serious risk. Dr. Al-Parch said that among the most needed medical equipment are special items for surgical procedures, endoscopy and intensive care, as well as items used in orthopaedic surgery, anaesthesia or respirators and childbirth. Even small items such as sutures, he said, are running out.

He called upon the Ministry of Health in Ramallah to send the items which, he claims, “are being withheld” by the Mahmoud Abbas administration. “Ramallah,” he added, “has sent just 37 percent of the Gaza Strip’s medical in 2010.”