Kuwaiti medical team calls on Arab doctors to save Gaza's hospitals

A Kuwaiti medical team yesterday issued distressed calls from the Kuwait Specialised Hospital and the Gaza European Hospital in the besieged Gaza Strip to save medical facilities in the Strip, specifically in the city of Rafah.

The head of the delegation and Vice President of the Kuwaiti Relief Society, Dr. Omar Al-Thuwaini, said: “Medical teams in the Arab and Gulf countries must immediately go to Gaza and follow the example of foreign entities that are constantly present in the Strip.”

In a video posted on Instagram, Al-Thuwaini stressed the importance of the medical teams’ presence to support the Palestinian health system in Gaza which suffers from an acute shortage of personnel and basic supplies as a result of the Israeli siege.

The second Kuwaiti medical delegation, consisting of 11 doctors and consultants, arrived in Gaza on Monday to provide assistance to the medical sector in the Gaza European Hospital and the Kuwait Specialised Hospital. They are due to leave the Strip on Sunday.

A medical delegation from the Kuwait Red Crescent Society entered Gaza on 7 March, the first of its kind since the outbreak of the Israeli war on the Strip in October 2023.

Palestinian healthcare workers say they have worked nonstop since the start of the war to ensure patient safety, this is in spite of the risk to their lives and that of their families, and the limitations on their abilities to carry out their jobs as Israel has banned the entry of urgently needed lifesaving medical equipment and medications. Occupation forces have also repeatedly besieged and targeted medical facilities, most recently the Al-Shifa Hospital Complex which was left in ruins.

READ: Many patients of destroyed Gaza hospital will die if not evacuated, WHO chief warns