12/17/2023 4:13 am (act. 12/17/2023 4:13 am)
Catastrophic conditions at Al-Shifa Hospital ©APA/AFP
During the Gaza war, the World Health Organization (WHO) highlighted the continued catastrophic situation of medical supplies in the isolated coastal strip. The heavily damaged Shifa Hospital is only “minimally functional” and urgently needs to be able to resume at least the most basic functions “to continue caring for thousands of people in need of life-saving medical care”, the WHO said in a statement . statement on Sunday.
The day before, officials brought medicine, surgical aid and anesthetics there with UN humanitarian organizations. At the Gaza Strip's largest hospital, just a handful of doctors, a few nurses and 70 volunteers still work in “incredibly difficult” conditions, he said.
Operating rooms are not functioning because of a lack of fuel, oxygen, specialized personnel and supplies. There is also no blood for transfusions and almost no staff to care for the constant flow of patients. The dialysis station for kidney patients supplies around 30 patients per day with a small generator. Tens of thousands used the hospital building and grounds for accommodation.
Staff described the emergency room as a “bloodbath,” with hundreds of injured people and new patients arriving every minute. The emergency room is so crowded that care must be taken not to step on patients lying on the floor, staff said. Patients in critical condition would be transferred to Al-Ahli Hospital in the same city for operations, he said. This is the only one in the north of the Gaza Strip that is still at least partially functional.
However, according to a recent WHO report, conditions there are also catastrophic. The clinic can only occupy 40 of the 80 beds, but it has more than 200 patients, a WHO representative said a few days ago. Doctors treated some seriously injured people on the ground and sidewalk.