Gaza: 16 medical centres cease work due to lack of electricity, fuel

The Palestinian Ministry of Health in Gaza yesterday announced the suspension of operations in 16 hospitals and healthcare centres across the Gaza Strip due to the sever lack of electricity and fuel, Quds Press reported.

Speaking to the news site, Spokesman of the Ministry of Health Ashraf Al-Qidra said: “Electricity generators in three more healthcare centres in Gaza stopped working; therefore, operations were suspended.”

Before the suspensions, Al-Qidra had announced the interruption of operations in 13 hospitals and healthcare centres for the same reason.

Al-Qidra warned that the suspension of operations at the hospitals directly affects the health of the patients in the enclave, which has been under a strict Israeli siege since mid-2007.

In a report, the World Health Organisation (WHO) said that “hospitals [in Gaza] faced difficulties to cope with the influx of trauma patients” over the last months.

Gaza: Healthcare sector on brink of collapse

It also said that the “continued power cuts are placing an increasing burden on the health sector,” noting that the MoH in Gaza “has partially closed Beit Hanoun Hospital, leaving only the Emergency Department functioning at minimal capacity in order to ration fuel.”

The international health body added: “With the closure and other strict contingency measures enforced by the MoH, the reserve fuel will last until mid-March.”

The report stated: “In January, out of the 516 essential drugs, stocks of 40 per cent were completely depleted. These include drugs used in emergency departments and other critical units. Out of the 853 essential disposables, 26 per cent have been reported at less than one month’s supply.”