Doctors in the Gaza Strip, under the control of the Islamist group Hamas, refuse to leave their jobs despite the collapse of the health system, which has meant that those injured by the bombings have to be treated on the floors of hospitals. crowded
The Burns unit of the Al Naser Hospital, in Khan Younis, is the only section of this type in southern Gaza and, like the rest of the departments of the health center, it is completely saturated.
“We only have eight beds. If before the war we were already limited to a population of about 800,000 people, what we have now exceeds everything imaginable“Rami Abu Aza, head nurse of the unit, told EFE.
To adapt to the new situation due to the war between Israel and Hamas, which began on October 7, they have increased the capacity from eight to 15 beds, which means that patients are practically overcrowded in this part of the hospital with the consequent risk of infections. .
“We have patients with complications, they have septicemia, changes in their cardiovascular system, hypertension, fever…“, accurate.
The fact that there are only 15 beds does not mean that the hospital only accommodates 15 burn patients, since in reality there are a hundred scattered throughout different parts of the health center due to lack of space.
Abu Aza indicated that 70% of them have burns of some magnitude, second, third and fourth degrees that affect at least 30% of their body.
The limitations in the unit not only affect the space, but also the staff, since they only have five nurses and four doctors who work 24 hours a day. In fact, Abu Aza has not seen his wife and three children for five days, worried that something could happen to them while he works because “there is no safe place in Gaza”.
Patients lying in the corridors, operations without anesthesia, surgical interventions in the light of mobile phones… this is the daily life of the hospitals in the Strip, where the Hamas Ministry of Health declared two days ago the collapse of the healthcare system. health due to Israeli bombings and lack of fuel.
And for 21 days, Israel and Hamas have been engaged in a war, which began after the Islamist group’s attack on Israeli territory that left 1,400 dead and more than 200 hostages who were taken to Gaza.
In retaliation, Israel has been bombing the Strip daily since October 7, in air attacks that have caused more than 7,300 deaths and almost 19,000 injuries.
These days of strife and siege, Abu Aza is encountering the ethical dilemma of treating burn patients without painkillers: “Psychologically it is not pleasant for us to treat the wounds of this type of patient without painkillers, we feel that we are torturing them.”
Despite trying to do everything possible for them to survive, the nurse predicted that it is possible that 20% will die if they do not receive proper treatment.
“Patients are not numbers, they are people who have families, they have an entity as human beings.“, lament.
If the burn section operates in precarious conditions, the Emergency Department seems almost like a battlefield with patients lying on the floor in the hallways due to the lack of stretchers.
Resident doctor Hosam Abu Saqr works there, for whom the current situation “is terrible”: ““You can’t treat patients properly.”
“On any given day you have to treat more than 50 wounded people in the space of half an hour –detailed– and when that time passes, you get another 50″.
The Emergencies are saturated, but they cannot transfer the seriously injured to the ward because in Surgery they are in similar conditions.
For Abu Saqr, the next two days are going to be crucial because they are running out of fuel, which powers the respirators, vital to keeping the seriously ill alive.
“I don’t know what we are going to do with these patients who depend on oxygen, if the respirators don’t work they will end up dying.”, he reflected.
However, Abu Saqr’s great fear is to one day find himself in the emergency room with a family member or friend who is the victim of a bombing, as has happened to other doctors. “I’m terrified of that moment, I don’t know how I’m going to react.”, he confessed.
According to data from the Gaza Ministry of Health, at least 57 health institutions have been targeted by Israeli bombings since the beginning of the war and that there are at least twelve hospitals and 32 primary care centers out of service as a result of the attacks and the lack of fuel.
Source: Gestion
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