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No proper medical care for Gaza patients not at death’s door
Updated:
9 Jun 2014
Gaza’s health care system is riddled with deficiencies and is unable to fully meet the needs of the population. Israel allows most patients with life-threatening conditions to receive treatment in the West Bank or inside Israel. Yet this is not the case for many others who have conditions that are not life-threatening but cannot receive adequate care in Gaza. Over the past few months – ever since Egypt began severely restricting travel through Rafah Crossing – these patients have been left with no way of obtaining the medical care they need.
Background:
The poor state of Gaza’s health care system is the result of neglect over the course of 40-odd years of direct Israeli control combined with the siege Israel laid on Gaza, with Egyptian cooperation, after Hamas rose to power in June 2007. When the siege was in effect, Israel imposed restrictions both on bringing medical equipment into the Gaza Strip as well as on doctors’ travel out of Gaza to courses and programs that would lend them greater proficiency and skills.
In certain medical fields, including oncology and hematology, Gaza’s health care system is very limited, and patients must travel to Egypt, Jordan or Israel to receive appropriate treatment. However, ever since the siege was imposed, Israel and Egypt have severely restricted travel by Gaza residents, leaving many patients with non-life-threatening conditions out in the cold.
Israel currently allows most patients with life-threatening conditions who cannot receive treatment in the Gaza Strip to enter its own territory or the West Bank for medical treatment, provided they apply for a permit and subject to security clearance. In contrast, patients with non-life-threatening conditions who require care unavailable in the Gaza Strip, such as various orthopedic conditions or certain eye diseases, are hard-put to obtain similar permits to enter Israel or the West Bank.
http://www.btselem.org/gaza_strip/20140601_gaza_patients
