Call to end the isolation of the Gaza Strip

February 2008 

GAZA - Facts and Figures

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MAP's visit to Kamal Odwan Hospital

The visit was conducted on the 13th of April. 2008.

Kamal Odwan hospital is located in the northern area of the Gaza Strip and serves 350,000 residents. The northern area is considered one of the hottest areas in the strip as it is close to the Israeli boarder and exposed to frequent shelling and military operations.

The director of the hospital Dr. Bassam Abu Wardeh and the public relation officer Mr. Moen Al Masri who both described how the hospital has 5 main departments that include: Surgical department, medical department, orthopedic department, ICU department and Pediatric department in addition to the theatre. The hospital has 73 beds in addition to 30 daily care beds.

The main problems the hospital suffers and mostly concerned about are:  

 

1) Fuel problems:

 

The fuel allowed into Gaza is very limited, in recent weeks what the hospitals receives to run their ambulances has been decreased. Nowadays many of the health professionals are not able to reach the hospital as the public transportation has stopped due to the lack of fuel. The hospital suffer from the frequent absenteeism of its staff, especially the night shift staff, and unable to bring them by its’ own ambulances. In addition the usual reserve of fuel for the only generator they have in the hospital has to be 9,500 liters; currently the hospital only has a reserve of 5,050 liters.

 

2) Food issues:

 

The food is secured for the hospital is not enough and doesn’t meet the nutritional standards required. Fresh food is not available.

 

3) Maintenance for the equipment and for the different facilities in the hospitals:

 

There is no maintenance offered due to the lack of the materials and spare parts. These types of materials and spare parts for medical equipment have not been allowed into Gaza since the siege began 10 months ago.

 

4)Shortages of drugs and disposables:

 

The hospital stock of the drugs and the disposables remained as it was in year 2000, with the ongoing emergency situation, the stock usually decreased and many of the items and the drug are not available. Patients and their families were asked to purchase the drugs from pharmacies.

 

5) ICU departments:

 

Have only two ventilators for three beds, there is fourth bed that is not equipped at all. There is deficiency in the monitors and infusion pumps and there is no Pediatric ICU.

 

6) No proper furniture is available especially for mothers who spend the nights with their babies and children, mothers remained seated for many days without having opportunities to lie down.

 

During our tour visit to the different departments at the hospital we have stopped at

 

The Pediatric department: where Ahmad Khalil was on one of the beds. Ahmad is 7 years old and suffers from hematologic anemia, he needs frequent blood transfusions. His hemoglobin level Hb is 5, he feels drowsy, not active, and he has fever and spots of blood in his urine. Ahmad was there with his father for a few days. His father indicated that they have to come to the hospital very frequently for the blood transfusions and that they have problem reaching the hospital due to the lack of public transportation.  

 

Maysara Shaqoura is a five years old boy who complains about bronchial asthma post having cardiac surgery. Maysara has to come to the hospital frequently with his mother to receive nepolizer, he has to stay at the hospital for 5 days, and his mother sleeps on a chair during the night.

 

Fadi Al Asali is a 4 years old boy who has a fractured femur after falling down from the roof of his home. Ahmad had to be operated on the day after the fall and his family were asked to purchase some disposables for his surgery because they are not available at the hospital.

 

At the Surgical department: Shadi Nabahn a 20 year-old male from Jabalia was injured on April 7th by shrapnel from Israeli shelling. He has shrapnel in different parts of his body including arms, leg, femur and genitalia. Shadi has to be operated the day after.

 

While we were at the hospital, two seriously injuries arrived, one passed away and the second was resuscitated and referred to Al Shifa hospital, his body was burned and Kamal Odwan hospital have no means for treating burned patients.

 

At the hospital pharmacy: it was indicated that there was a deficiency of certain drugs, some of them considered life saving drugs. The actual stock doesn’t suit the ongoing emergency situation that the hospitals deal with.

 

At the hospital theatre: there were only two operation rooms, one for major surgeries and the other for the minor ones. These lack some basic disposables, families of patients are asked to purchase some necessary disposables such as sutures, mesh grafts and bone semin (for the neck of femur).

 

The unit has to stop the laparoscopy operations due to the shortage of the endo-clips and the orthopedic surgery that require external fixation.

 

It was noticed that there was no separate sterilization room, the sterilized devices and trays become not sterilized because of the steam and vapor.  

 

It was also noticed that the unit lacked basic sanitary items such as the hamper where the dirty linen has to be kept until it go to the laundry. The staff put all these linen on the floor. There are no brushes that used for scrubbing, surgeons and their teams only wash their hands but don’t scrub before they start surgery.

 

Israel first imposed its closure policy on the Gaza Strip in the early 1990s and since then it has had a steadily worsening impact on access to education, medical care, employment and the economy. Now effectively imprisoned and with only a drip-feed of humanitarian aid, 1.5 million Palestinians in the Gaza Strip are entirely cut off from the West Bank and the outside world, facing a life without the essential requirements for survival let alone development. Over 80% of the population in Gaza live below the poverty line.

 

By sealing off the Gaza Strip, declaring it a hostile entity, cutting fuel and threatening to cut electricity, Israel is retreating from its responsibilities as the occupying power. Not only does it make a mockery of international humanitarian law, the illegal policy of collective punishment is only serving to deepen despair and frustration in Gaza. It does not provide security for either Israelis or Palestinians. Crucially, the security of one is indivisible from the security of the other.  

 

The international community has exacerbated this situation by further isolating Gaza and pursuing a ‘West Bank first’ approach to aid and diplomacy that abandons 1.5 million people to poverty. The violent collapse of the Palestinian national unity government in June 2007 and split between Hamas in Gaza and Fatah in the West Bank has further entrenched the isolation of the Gaza Strip at the expense of an already impoverished population.

 

·         The right to work and to an adequate standard of living: The economy has been decimated as 85% of manufacturing businesses in Gaza have closed down, over 70,000 workers have lost their jobs, imports and exports remain blocked and production has ground to a halt. 

 

·         The right to health:  Deteriorating conditions and a lack of medical supplies are diminishing the capacity of hospitals to treat patients in Gaza, while patients seeking medical care unavailable in Gaza are frequently denied permits to leave.

·         The right to education: Students are prevented from studying at universities in the West Bank or abroad, while school textbooks cannot be printed due to lack of raw materials.  The next generation is being held back which will have serious implications for future development.

 

·         The right to life: Isolating Gaza has not stopped Palestinian rocket attacks into Israel and the entire population of Gaza remains vulnerable to continuing Israeli military attacks. All civilians, Israeli and Palestinian, must be protected under international law.

The organisations listed below are signatories only to the English version of this statement which can be found at www.christianaid.org.uk/gaza_statement

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