Gaza Faces Humanitarian Disaster: Health Ministry

Date: 21 September 2020 - 21:37

News ID: ۸۳۰۴۰

GAZA STRIP (Dispatches) – The health ministry in the Gaza Strip announced on Monday that Gaza would soon witness a "humanitarian disaster” amid an acute shortage of medical supplies and equipment in handling the COVID-19 outbreak.
Ashraf al-Qedra, spokesman of the health ministry in Gaza, told Xinhua that the polymerase chain reaction (PCR) tests for the novel coronavirus can only be enough for two days, which "would cause a catastrophe.”
The densely populated coastal enclave needs to double the PCR tests to combat the virus and avoid its spread, al-Qedra said.
In addition, medical supplies for patients with cancer, heart and kidney conditions who are suffering from weak immunity are in dire shortage, the spokesman added.
"If one of them is infected with the virus, they will face an inevitable death, especially in the light of the deterioration of the health sector,” al-Qedra warned.
Meanwhile, the percentage of deficit in pharmaceutical stocks is estimated at 47 percent, while the medical disposables at 33 percent, said Munir al-Bursh, director-general of the pharmaceutical department at the Gaza health ministry.
So far, the Gaza Strip has recorded 2,400 COVID-19 cases, including 17 deaths.
Gaza has been under siege by the Zionist regime since June 2007, which has caused a decline in living standards. The pandemic has added to the plight in the coastal strip.
The Zionist regime has also launched three major wars against the enclave since 2008, killing thousands of Gazans each time and shattering the impoverished territory’s already poor infrastructure.
The crippling blockade has also caused unprecedented levels of unemployment and unrelenting poverty in the Gaza Strip.