The World Health Organization (WHO) has raised a dire alarm over the worsening medical crisis in Gaza, revealing that patients are being subjected to surgeries without anaesthetic due to severe shortages.
The WHO disclosed that its own medicine warehouse in the strip is now completely empty, exacerbating the plight faced by doctors who are grappling with “impossible choices” amid a total siege imposed by Israel.
The ongoing blockade, coupled with sustained Israeli bombings, has led to critical shortages of essential medical items such as morphine, saline solution, and surgical supplies. The WHO warns that these supplies will run out “in days.”
Local and general anaesthetics are on the verge of complete depletion, while blood banks have only a two-week supply left.
The scarcity extends to medicines for conditions such as blood pressure, diabetes, seizures, dialysis, and heart disease.
Patients are already feeling the impact, with one individual expressing concern about the inability to find cancer treatment for their mother-in-law.
Reports from Gaza indicate that wounded individuals from a recent strike on a hospital in northern Gaza are overwhelming medical facilities.
Videos sent to The Independent show paramedics attending to the injured on the floor, with surgeries being conducted in corridors without anaesthetics.
Dr. Medhat Abbas, director of al-Shifa, Gaza’s largest hospital, reveals that some wounded are left “to die to succumb to their wounds” due to the overwhelming number of casualties.
Emergency doctor Mohamed Ghanem adds that there is no space left in the operation rooms, leading to surgeries being performed “in the corridors without any anaesthesia.”
The situation is particularly dire for children, who make up the majority of those affected.
