Gaza on the brink of medical collapse

The health ministry in the PA caretaker government has warned that the health situation in the Gaza Strip was on the brink of collapse and added that the number of deaths due to serious diseases would double in the few coming days.

Khaled Radi, the spokesman of the ministry, said in a press interview on Tuesday that the number of patients who died due to the siege (that reached 50 victims) would double in the coming days as more than one thousand patients were suffering chronic diseases and were banned from travel abroad for treatment.

He said that all hospitals in the Strip suffer from acute shortage in medicines, explaining that 69 types of medications were out of stock while 130 others are expected to follow within three months or less.

The fuel in Gaza hospitals barely meets the daily needs, Radi said, adding that the whole health conditions were in need of urgent rehabilitation.

He expressed pessimism over the future of health situation in the Strip in the light of the continued Israeli siege and the Arab and international silence.

He said that the main problem is Israeli occupation that besieges the Strip and the illegal PA government in Ramallah while in the end patients are the victims of such a situation. "This is why we call for keeping the health sector aloof from political wrangling," Radi elaborated.