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Repairs of Gaza's hospitals, clinics making slow progress

June 1, 2015 at 12:16 pm

The reconstruction and rehabilitation of Gaza’s health facilities damaged during Israel’s assault last summer has made only “moderate progress”, the World Health Organisation (WHO) has stated.

According to WHO data included in a new UN agency report, a shortage of construction materials and shortfalls in funding mean that repairs and rehabilitation work have slowed or stopped.

During ‘Operation Protective Edge’, Israeli attacks destroyed 13 health structures from public and private providers, and damaged a further 104, including 20 hospitals, 57 clinics, 29 pharmacies, seven ambulance stations and laboratories, and four drug warehouses.

The cost of rebuilding and reequipping was estimated at US$24 million.

The rehabilitation work for seven of the Ministry of Health (MoH) hospitals has slowed or ground to a halt, 12 MoH clinics face problems related to lack of materials, and seven MoH clinics still require funding to cover repairs.