Gaza healthcare workers suffering with mental health amid war

Gaza’s healthcare workers have had to face unprecedented challenges to provide medical assistance to thousands of people, Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) reports.

According to Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) mental health staff, the impact of working in such extreme conditions will leave scars for years to come.

The report says some healthcare workers in the Gaza Strip, Palestine, say they are living in constant fear, stress and anxiety as they continue to treat patients.

The workers have described receiving repeated large numbers of casualties with crushed limbs and burns from explosions and having to perform amputations without sufficient pain medication or anaesthesia, the report adds.

‘Medical staff in Gaza are working under profound psychological strain,’ MSF psychiatrist, Dr Audrey McMahon, who recently returned from Palestine, says.

“Many times, because of the bombardments or because of the insecurity, medical staff had to leave patients behind. Many of them have a shared feeling of guilt for not being able to do more,” says McMahon.

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