Great efforts exerted by the Palestinian MOH in Gaza to save the mounting casualties of the Great March of Return
Palestine- Gaza – Ministry of health – Press release
Dr. A. Al Haj stated that MOH- Gaza, has installed field trauma stabilization points (FTSP) in five areas near the buffer zones along Gaza Strip eastern borders to make triage for the casualties of the Great March Return.
Dr. Al Haj said, we have never expected the Israelis would commit a crime by dispersing the peaceful crowds by tear gas but we were shocked that their snipers used tear gases in addition to live ammunition and explosive bullets.
Without our FTSP we would have lost large numbers of injured, and large numbers would have arrived to the emergency rooms of our hospitals. in that regard Dr. Al Haj stated that the MOH staff have dealt with more than 13672 injuries 7451 of them have arrived to our hospitals.
We used to receive 700- 800 injured on Fridays within 4-6 hours, which means a huge numbers flocked in short time putting a strain on our limited hospital resources ( capacity and staff). As a result, MOH expanded temporarily the physical capacity of ICUs and emergency room’s.
On his part, director general of Al-Shifa Medical Complex Dr. M. Abbas added, medical teams, have worked for long hours to save the seriously injured limbs of the mass casualties and only 33 cases have been amputated while performing about 2000 complicated surgeries, which is considered a great achievement for us in Gaza.
In the same context, the Spokesman for the MOH A. Alkadra estimated the requirements of health sector to about 19.5 Million USD and we received only quarter this amount .
Challenges facing the health sector exceeded medical capabilities of any health system in the world, where the hospitals in Gaza strip received on Fridays 280 case per hour which overpassed what happened in 2014 Israeli offensive, where hospitals received only 9 cases per hour. Dr. Ashraf Alkadra thanked all the medical staff for its efforts and sacrifices, commemorating Razan El-Najar, who was killed while rescuing the injured with her colleagues of medics and paramedics, he also denounced the barbaric occupation practices towards unarmed citizens and calls up on the international community to put an end to the Israeli war crimes.