Gaza: health care is in danger

26-01-2012 Photo gallery

In the Gaza Strip, the shortage of essential medical supplies is a major problem for thousands of desperate patients, especially those with kidney failure or cancer. To make matters worse, the power supply is intermittent and the voltage fluctuates. This can disrupt life-saving health care, sometimes forcing patients to restart their treatment.

- 68-year-old Ghazi Al-De'bala has been suffering from kidney failure since 2005. He lives in Beit Lahia, to the north of Gaza City.
  © ICRC / I. El Baba
- Violence against patients and health-care workers is one of the most crucial yet overlooked humanitarian issues of today. More about the ICRC's worldwide Health Care in Danger project
- Helped by his son, Ghazi has to come to Shifa hospital in Gaza City for dialysis three days a week, as there are no dialysis machines in the hospitals in northern Gaza.
  © ICRC / I. El Baba
- The haemodialysis department in Shifa hospital is open seven days a week, but is faced with constant shortages of essential drugs like Erythropoietin and of disposables such as blood lines. This leaves patients fearing for their lives, and doctors feeling helpless.
  © ICRC / I. El Baba / il-e-02458
- In November and December 2011, the ICRC managed to deliver 2,400 blood line units to Gaza hospitals. On three occasions, it also helped transfer haemodialysis supplies from the Ministry of Health in Ramallah to the Ministry of Health in Gaza to keep the service running.
  © ICRC / I. El Baba / il-e-02461
- Ghazi experiences mixed feelings during his haemodialysis session: happiness that he managed to have dialysis today, and concern about the next session.
  © ICRC / I. El Baba
- Ghazi and other kidney-failure patients are under constant stress from not knowing whether they will receive decent care when they need it, putting their lives in danger.
  © ICRC / I. El Baba / il-e-02454
- In the Gaza Strip, essential medical supplies, including chemotherapy and haemophilia drugs, are frequently not available. Around 7,000 cancer patients face an uncertain fate on a daily basis. When chemotherapy is interrupted, the chances of success drop dramatically, even if another painful round of treatment is initiated.
  © ICRC / I. El Baba / il-e-02465
- 37-year-old Taghrid Al Alloul is married with six children. She was diagnosed with breast cancer a year ago.
  © ICRC / I. El Baba
- Taghrid received treatment in Egypt, but she still needs an operation. However, she is likely to suffer from complications after the surgery unless she takes the drug Taxol.
  © ICRC / I. El Baba
- Today, she comes to Shifa hospital with her husband to collect her course of Taxol. Taghrid knows that her chances of a cure will fall unless she gets it within 10 days.
  © ICRC / I. El Baba
- Worried and anxious, Taghrid waits at the pharmacy to find out whether or not she will get the drug. But the answer is: "Sorry, it is not available today".
  © ICRC / I. El Baba
- The alternative is either to be referred to Egypt for treatment – a procedure that takes several weeks or even months – or to undergo surgery without the medicine, putting her life in danger.
  © ICRC / I. El Baba
- Taghrid and her husband leave the hospital, frustrated. Taghrid is afraid of undoing all she has achieved with the treatment because of the lack of medicine in Gaza. She asks herself what she is going to say to her children.
  © ICRC / I. El Baba

Gaza: health care is in danger

26-01-2012 Photo gallery

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