I was fortunate enough to spend some time in Gaza
earlier in the crisis, and what I saw shook me to my core.
Nothing I had seen or read in the news prepared me for
the reality on the ground and the dire healthcare situation
in the tiny strip. My reflections below are crucial to
properly understanding the medical catastrophe that is
unfolding as the world looks on, doing nothing.
In Gaza today, nearly all patients suffer from
malnutrition, which severely impedes wound healing.
The infection rate among patients is beyond imagination.
Surgical instruments are rarely sterilised, and patients
usually stay in overcrowded wards. This is all a result of
a siege imposed by Israel, which has severely limited
food and lifesaving medical supplies from entering Gaza.
My fellow medical professionals are struggling to help
people in the handful of barely functional medical
facilities left in the besieged Gaza Strip. They receive
rare assistance from medical missions from overseas that
manage to get Israeli approval to enter Gaza, like the
PalMed mission that facilitated my trip to the European
Hospital in Khan Younis, the only hospital functioning in
southern and central Gaza. The scenes there are
reminiscent of horror films: patients lie on the hospital
floor propped against walls, with blood and other bodily
fluids seen around waiting rooms.
The lack of equipment, medicine, and supplies has
pushed the medical sector closer to total collapse.
Looking around Gaza, it seems as if the apocalypse has
arrived. People are on the brink, and the famine-like
conditions have affected more than 90 percent of Gaza’s
2.3 million people – most of whom are now internally
displaced. The number of sick and wounded keeps
increasing and overcrowding and poor sanitation due to
lack of resources compound the challenges in the
hospital. The depletion of resources means that even
simple procedures are challenging, and malnourishment
among so many patients complicates the healing process
further. This is without mentioning the psychological
effects on patients and the mental trauma their injuries
cause them.
Post-operative planning and follow-up is a real challenge
due to dwindling capacity in healthcare centers and the
lack of medical professionals. Hundreds of medical staff
have been killed or displaced. Patients who, in any NHS
hospital, would receive follow-up care, however patients
in Gaza have no option but to self-remedy, increasing the
risk of complications, especially as malnourishment and
poor sanitation are exacerbated by the war situation and
the siege. The situation is inhumane; the people of Gaza
are having their dignity stripped away from them.
Around 80% of the patients I saw were women and
children who could not even be accused of being
combatants, which was especially shocking. There is no
reason for them to be targeted in this way and to be
victims of such senseless killing.
With the help of others, I am priveleged to be involved in
an initiative aimed at helping medical students in Gaza
complete their studies in collaboration with the Islamic
University and Al-Azhar University in Gaza, with
contributions from other parties. This initiative aims to
provide continuous education and training and to support medical specialties throughout Palestine. The Medical
Colleges in Gaza, including Al-Azhar University and the
Islamic University, are the foundation of this initiative
and will be responsible for supervising the curriculum,
evaluation, and accreditation of university degrees. The
curriculum for this initiative is managed primarily by the
aforementioned institutions. Ultimately, this initiative
would only be workable thanks to the support of external
parties, with a South African company designing the
educational platform for the initiative to support the
victims of the Gaza War. Additionally, five medical
colleges in Ireland have expressed readiness to contribute
to this project, and over 250 consultants from
Europe have volunteered to teach and prepare the
students for their studies.
Gaza has a young population; they have dreams and
ambitions, and in the long term, I am confident in their
abilities to achieve these dreams. But right now, the
situation is so dire that even thinking about the decade
ahead, we must be cautious. A lost decade is upon us if a
ceasefire is not called imminently, with the secondary
effects of the war in terms of the collapse of public health
infrastructure and long-term effects of malnourishment
and famine posing existential risks to the future of the
young population. The people of Gaza deserve a better
future; we must advocate on their behalf for a better one.
Figure 1: Attempt to save a young girl’s crushed foot from amputation (picture is the courtesy of Dr. Riyadh Almasharqah)
Figure 2: Managing complex wounds in Gaza presents a significant challenge (picture is the courtesy of Dr Riyadh Almasharqah)
Figure 3: Women and children are the main victims of the occupying forces (picture is the courtesy of Dr.Riyadh Almasharqah)
Figure 4: Medical students have been great asset to the healthcare in Gaza (picture is the courtesy of Dr.Riyadh Almasharqah)
Figure 5: A significant number of children sustain severe burns (picture is the courtesy of Dr. Riyadh Almasharqah)
Figure 6: Over 5000 people have lost one or more limbs in Gaza (picture is the courtesy of Dr.Riyadh Almasharqah)
