Renewed calls to save Gaza healthcare sector

The Palestinian Ministry of Health in Gaza renewed yesterday its previous calls to send fuel and medicines to save the healthcare sector in the coastal enclave, which has been under a tight Israeli siege for ten years, Quds Press reported.

After a previous emergency call, the health ministry received last Sunday an emergency supply of fuel to run electricity generators at the main hospitals and healthcare centres. The amount provided is enough for an extra five days, the ministry said.

Speaking to Quds Press, a health ministry spokesman in Gaza said: “The ministry faces an unprecedented crisis across all of its facilities due to the severe shortage of fuel. It calls for all government and charity officials to urgently interfere and solve the ongoing crisis.”

He added: “The facilities of the ministry are affected by the shortages of electricity supplies caused by the repeated damage of the Egyptian and Israeli lines supplying the Strip,” noting that Gazan hospitals needed 420,000 litres of fuel every month.

The spokesman said that the latest emergency amount of fuel will run out this Thursday.