Worker
strikes have left several Gaza hospitals covered in garbage and used medical supplies (AA)
Mohammed
Omer
Thursday 4
December 2014 20:31
GAZA CITY
– The Gaza health ministry has announced a state of emergency in hospitals and
medical centres across the besieged Palestinian enclave, as top officials
warned that basic services may soon be cut as a result of dwindling medical
supplies and unpaid wages.
Dr Yousef
Abu Elrish, head of the higher committee for emergencies at the ministry, told
a press conference in Gaza City on Wednesday that nutrition and cleaning
services in hospitals, and ambulance services, may soon be halted across the
strip.
Elrish
said the Palestinian consensus government - formed in June between rival
Palestinian factions, Hamas and Fatah - had not met its in responsibilities
towards Gaza's health sector, failing to fund the day-to-day costs at Gaza's
hospitals since June.
The health
ministry needs $6.3 million each month to run and can only cover $400,000 of
this total through revenues, according to its latest records which MEE
reviewed.
The
paralysed Palestinian political process has resulted in unpaid wages for
approximately 50,000 public sector employees in Gaza, including doctors and
other medical staff.
Over the
past two months, cleaners at medical facilities in Gaza have complained about
not receiving their salaries. On Wednesday, they held a protest and walked out
of government hospitals in a one-day strike, leaving piles of garbage at
several Gazan hospitals.
This is
not the first time the cleaners have protested, but they said they will not
return to work this time until they are paid.
Garbage
and supplies were strewn across several Gaza hospitals on Wednesday (AA)
Umm
Ibrahim lay on bed at the Emirati Red Crescent Maternity Hospital, one day
after giving birth to her son. She told Middle East Eye that the cleaners had
not worked since the morning she arrived.
"One
can't live without the help of cleaners in hospitals and doctors can't treat
and clean rooms at the same time," she said.
Gaza has
suffered from a chronic shortage of medical supplies for several years, a
situation that was exacerbated by Israel's 50-day assault on the territory over
the summer. Ministry of health spokesman Ashraf al-Qudra said stocks for 120
medications and 470 types of medical supplies have entirely run out, including
treatments for chronic diseases like kidney failure and liquids for blood
analysis.
Palestinians
in Gaza have also complained about long delays for surgical procedures.
One of
those patients was Amal al-Arishi who was sitting in a corridor at Shifa
Hospital on Thursday. Early in the morning, doctors told her that she was ready
to give birth and they planned to do a caesarian section. But after they
prepared her for the procedure, the doctors returned to tell her that the
operation room was too unclean to be used to delivery new babies and she would
have to wait.
Other
patients who need surgery may wait for up to nine weeks, doctors said.
Dr Elrish
warned that the coming days could see the complete closure to vital health
facilities in Gaza, including Harazin Maternity Hospital, Beit Hanoun Hospital
and Abu Yousef Al-Najjar Hospital, the only public facility which serves more
than 170,000 people in the southern Gaza city of Rafah.
At Shifa
Hospital, the largest hospital in the Strip, frustration was mounting as people
attempted to register for operations on Wednesday, most of which were delayed.
Pools of blood and used bandages covered the floors.
A
Gaza-based minister, who said he preferred to remain anonymous as he
coordinated discussion between Gaza and Ramallah, said Gazan politicians are
concerned about the situation and have raised the issue with the leadership in
Ramallah, but have yet to see concrete action.
Workers who clean Gaza hospitals have stopped working (MEE/Mohammed
Asad)
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