GAZA (Dispatches) – Gaza’s Health Ministry says the Zionist regime is delaying the entry of several X-ray machines needed to treat patients in the blockaded Palestinian territory.
The ministry, run by the Gaza Strip’s Hamas, said requests in the past 14 months for eight different types of X-ray machines and spare parts to repair existing equipment had been rejected or delayed.
Dozens of other X-ray machines were not allowed into the impoverished coastal enclave during the same period.
The Zionist regime together with Egypt maintains a blockade around Gaza.
Health Ministry Director Medhat Abbas said the equipment was funded by international relief and medical institutions on behalf of hospitals in Gaza.
“Holding back the entry of that equipment caused a delay in providing medical services to thousands of patients,” said Abbas.
Abbas said Zionist regime assertions about the medical equipment having dual uses were a lie.
At Gaza City’s Shifa hospital, Nalat Zeino, 51, said she had been waiting 45 days o have an X-ray done for her kidneys. Doctors blamed the delay on the withholding of equipment.
“As if the pain I am feeling wasn’t enough — waiting has been another form of torture,” the mother of four told Reuters outside the X-ray unit.
The blockade limiting the amount of goods crossing in and out of the strip has crippled Gaza’s economy and health care system, which suffers from a chronic shortage of hospital beds and medical equipment.