The Ministry of Health in Gaza succeeds in implementing the two operational and strategic plans for 2021 despite the challenges.
“The Ministry of Health in Gaza was able to implement its operational and strategic plans during 2021 despite the Israeli aggression and the Corona pandemic”, according to Ministry of Health spokesperson, Dr. Ashraf Alqedra.
Despite the exceptional circumstances that the strip has gone through during the past year, the Ministry of Health was able to accomplish more than 77% of its operational plan.
MOH has been able to continue providing its health services through 14 hospitals and 51 health care centers despite the 15 years of suffocating siege that tightens the noose on the Gaza Strip. The Ministry has even increased the number of patients beds during the past year to exceed 2,616 beds, in addition to an increase in ICU beds to exceed 156 beds, as part of its efforts to address the Covid-19 pandemic.
As for the human cadre development, there are more than 17 specialized programs for doctors in the Palestinian Board, indicating that 450 medical cadres are enrolled in these programs in addition to several internal and external scholarship programs.
Dr. Al-Qudra indicated that the ministry’s facilities received 98 medical delegations in the last year, which they, in turn, conducted 880 surgical interventions in various medical specialties.
Meanwhile, the Director-General of Engineering and Maintenance at the Ministry of Health, Engineer Bassam Al-Hammadin, reviewed the most prominent development projects that were implemented in 2021, pointing out that the projects cost’s that were completed during the same year amounted to 56 million dollars.
Al-Hammadin marked out that the construction projects amounted to $36 million, such as the Noura Al-Kaabi Center for kidney patients, and adding two floors in the Indonesian Hospital with a bed capacity of 130 beds.
Eng. Al-Hammadin also indicated that his ministry had started the establishment of the National Center for Psychiatry, which would provide a service for treating chronic diseases and rehabilitating psychiatric patients.
The Ministry completed several projects in 2021, such as energy projects, which cover about 70% of the energy needs of the European Gaza Hospital, modernization of water networks in hospitals, desalination plants for kidney departments, in addition to adding CT devices to the health facilities.
The restoration projects targeted more than 15 primary care centers, in addition to developing several hospitals and providing elevators to improve the quality of health services provided to citizens in Gaza.