Medicines in such short supply in Gaza, treatments will stop

Medication supplies in the Gaza Strip have reached dangerously low levels after the decision was made to stop providing hospital and health centres in the southern municipalities with the required items, a senior official in the Ministry of Health warned today.

Munir Al-Barsh, General Director of Pharmacy in the in Gaza, stressed during a press conference that as of April, there were 170 types of medications that are not available and the deficit rate has reached 35 per cent, while the number of medical supplies that are unavailable reached 270. This indicates the seriousness of the consequences for the patients with chronic diseases, cancer and those on dialysis.

He also noted that the shortages in basic services, such as cancer medication, infant formula, dialysis services, emergency services, surgery, intensive care and specialised units of patients with hepatitis, cystic fibrosis, cardiac catheterization and open heart services suggest a health catastrophe that will negatively impact the lives of the patients. Treatments will stop as a result of the shortages, he warned.

Read: PA denies halting medical shipments to Gaza

The Ministry of Health in Gaza is making contact with relevant forces to alleviate the crisis and to try to find solutions, he added, or convince the Palestinian Authority in Ramallah, which has decided to abandon its responsibilities for the lives of two million Gazans to comply with its duties.

Munir Al-Barsh, General Director of Pharmacy in the in Gaza during a press conferene in Gaza on 23 May, 2017 [Mohammed Asad/Middle East Monitor]

Medication supplies in the Gaza Strip have reached dangerously low levels after the decision was made to stop providing help for hospital and health centres, on 23 May, 2017 [Mohammed Asad/Middle East Monitor]

Munir Al-Barsh, General Director of Pharmacy in the in Gaza during a press conferene in Gaza on 23 May, 2017 [Mohammed Asad/Middle East Monitor]

Medication supplies in the Gaza Strip have reached dangerously low levels after the decision was made to stop providing hospital and health centres, on 23 May, 2017 [Mohammed Asad/Middle East Monitor]

Medication supplies in the Gaza Strip have reached dangerously low levels after the decision was made to stop providing hospital and health centres, on 23 May, 2017 [Mohammed Asad/Middle East Monitor]

Image from a Gaza hopital’s pharmacy room on 23 May, 2017 [Mohammed Asad/Middle East Monitor]

Medication supplies in the Gaza Strip have reached dangerously low levels after the decision was made to stop providing hospital and health centres, on 23 May, 2017 [Mohammed Asad/Middle East Monitor]

Medication supplies in the Gaza Strip have reached dangerously low levels after the decision was made to stop providing hospital and health centres, on 23 May, 2017 [Mohammed Asad/Middle East Monitor]

Medication supplies in the Gaza Strip have reached dangerously low levels after the decision was made to stop providing hospital and health centres, on 23 May, 2017 [Mohammed Asad/Middle East Monitor]

Munir Al-Barsh, General Director of Pharmacy in the in Gaza during a press conferene in Gaza on 23 May, 2017 [Mohammed Asad/Middle East Monitor]