Diseases spreading again in Gaza, says hospital director
We’ve been reporting about the spread of disease and lack of clean water in Gaza.
The director of Kamal Adwan Hospital in Jabalia has given us some updates on the situation:
- Some diseases are spreading again, including hepatitis C
- Lack of healthy food and clean water is aiding the spread of diseases
- We can only offer some medical solutions for malnourished children
- We demand the entry of fuel, food and medical supplies because we are facing a disaster in the Gaza Strip
‘Up to 800 patients and thousands of displaced people’ crammed inside Al-Aqsa Hospital
Dr Bushra Othman, a surgeon working at Gaza’s Al-Aqsa Hospital, has warned of extreme overcrowding and limited resources in the emergency department of the hospital, particularly when there are attacks nearby.
In a conversation with Al Jazeera’s Hani Mahmoud from inside the hospital, Othman said there were only three doctors working in the emergency department.
“This is a hospital that would normally have a couple of hundred beds and doesn’t necessarily get to treat a lot of patients. There are now up to 800 patients and thousands of displaced people,” Othman said, adding that the increased number of displaced makes it challenging for doctors to identify patients.
“Unfortunately, because there’s no structure and there’s no system, you actually don’t know always where your patients end up or where you might be able to find them in order to provide the treatment that they require.
“There are only a couple of hospitals that are still partially in control and this will be one of them.”
Children in ‘severe pain’ due to lack of analgesia in hospitals: Doctor
We bring you more from inside Al-Aqsa Hospital, where our colleague Hani Mahmoud spoke to Dr Bushra Othman, a surgeon at the medical facility. Othman pointed out that there are only a couple of hospitals in all of Gaza that are still partially functional, Al-Aqsa being one of them.
“There’s not necessarily the equipment to be able to monitor [the patients] in terms of taking their vital signs like blood pressure and heart rate,” Othman said, pointing out that a large number of injured are children.
“A lot of these kids are in severe pain because of their wounds. There isn’t enough adequate analgesia to be able to give them. They require care, which sometimes is unnecessarily not able to be provided here.”
Intense heat in Gaza could worsen health crisis for Palestinians, WHO warns
The World Health Organization warns that scorching heat in the Strip could exacerbate health problems for Palestinians displaced by Israel’s war on Gaza.
The World Food Programme has warned that a serious public health crisis is looming in Gaza due to the lack of clean water, food and medical supplies. “We’ve seen massive displacement over the last weeks and months, and we know that combination and the heat can cause a rise in diseases,” said Richard Peeperkorn, WHO’s representative for Gaza and the West Bank.
“We have water contamination because of hot water, and we will have much more food spoilage because of the high temperature. We will get insect mosquitoes and flies, dehydration, heat stroke.”
Extreme heat has killed hundreds worldwide as the Northern Hemisphere summer begins.
Peeperkorn said in Gaza, due to poor water and sanitation conditions, the number of cases of diarrhoea was 25 times higher than usual. Contaminated water and poor sanitation are linked to diseases such as cholera, diarrhoea, dysentery and hepatitis A, according to the WHO.
The WHO has been unable to carry out medical evacuations from Gaza since the closure of the Rafah crossing in early May. Peeperkorn said an estimated 10,000 patients still required medical evacuation from Gaza, half of whom are suffering from ailments related to the war.
Palestinians ride vehicles past buildings destroyed during a previous Israeli bombardment in Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip on June 21
