Surgeries done without disinfectants in Gaza amid ban on entry of medicine: Doctor

By Press TV Website Staff

No hospitals are functioning properly in Gaza amid the Israeli ban on entry of vital medical equipment and medicine, making it difficult for both doctors and patients, says a Gaza-based doctor.

In an interview with the Press TV website, Dr. Izzeddin Shaheen, who works at the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital in Deir al-Balah, central Gaza Strip, said a few hospitals are operating with limited services but they cannot cater to the massive demand that exists amid the daily bombings and massacres.

Some field hospitals that have come up in refugee tents in Deir al-Balah and Khan Yunis are functioning partially but cannot address the needs of hundreds of thousands of displaced people.

According to figures released by the Palestinian health ministry last week, a total of 885 doctors and paramedics have been killed by the Israeli regime in Gaza since October 7, 2023.

A total of 520 people have been retrieved from mass graves inside hospitals across the territory.

The number of people battling infectious diseases due to mass displacement is around 1.8 million. The number of cases of hepatitis infections in Gaza due to displacement is close to 72,000.

The number of pregnant women at risk due to lack of adequate healthcare is 60,000 and the number of chronic patients at risk due to the prohibition on entry of medicine is more than 350,000.

The number of hospitals taken out of service by the occupation regime since October 7 is 34 and the number of health centers that have become non-functional during this period is 80.

“The health situation is very very bad because no medical equipment or medicine has entered for several months now,” Dr. Shaheen told the Press TV website from his hospital.

He said there is a complete lack of sterilizers, tools for operations, gauze, cotton, alcohol for swabbing, and vital things that are necessary to perform surgical operations.

“What is happening to the health sector in Gaza in all respects is very bad,” he rued.

The Gaza-based medic said major operations such as neurosurgery are being carried out now without disinfectants, scrubbing, or any basic thing that a surgeon needs to perform the surgery.  

“Even surgical gowns needed for operations are not available when performing operations,” he said, adding that the situation has remained unchanged for several months now.

Dr. Shaheen said the Israeli regime is preventing the entry of medical equipment into the besieged territory, even cleaning products, soap and other essential items.

“We see worms in the patients only one day after their injuries. This can't be explained except that Israel is trying to kill the injured before they arrive at hospitals,” he elaborated.

“The injuries expand and become more infected within hours because places for the displaced in general have turned contagious because Israel has banned the entry of disinfectant materials.”

Earlier this week, UN Secretary-General’s spokesperson Stéphane Dujarric said the Israeli regime has rejected several requests by the UN to supply fuel to hospitals in northern Gaza as it is delaying lifesaving operations in the besieged Palestinian territory.

“Efforts to deliver fuel to hospitals in the region have been thwarted repeatedly, with access denied five times in the past week [by Israel],” Dujarric said.

It came after the health ministry in Gaza warned that healthcare facilities in the war-wracked territory are nearing closure due to an acute fuel shortage for generators and a severe lack of medical supplies.

Meanwhile, amid the growing humanitarian catastrophe, a mass polio vaccination campaign has kicked off in the territory to inoculate children against the disease after the first case was detected recently.

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