Three children died due to medicine shortages in Gaza

[Tom Joad]

Gaza- Ma'an- Medical sources in Shifa'a hospital in Gaza City have said that three Palestinians suffering from kidney problems died as a result of a lack of medicine due to the siege of the Gaza Strip.

Director-General of Emergency and First Aid in the Ministry of Health Dr. Mo'awiyah Abu Hassanain warned of the dangers facing 600 Palestinian children because of the shortage of kidney medicines. He indicated that 150 children need frequent kidney dialysis.

The sources named the three people who died as a result of a lack of medicines as Mohammad Turk, Mohammad Helow, and Shaban Lulu. They needed dialysis but due to the shortage of medicines, the frequency of the process had been reduced.

Dr Abu Hassanain confirmed that the hospital is suffering from a crisis in terms of supplies of medicines and he said this is increasing the suffering of the people and the number of people in need of dialysis. Dr Abu Hassanain warned of a humanitarian disaster in the Strip.
http://www.maannews.net/en/do.php?name=News&file=article&sid=10654
_____________________________________________

This is what the Olmert unilateral plan for "peace" looks like.

[Oversea Visitor]

1. Isreal

being right is more important than all this I guess.
Why Isreal so important?
Why Isreal can do all this bad stuff?
Why Isreal grown to be such a monster?

[Erika]

2. Corporatism doesn't do helping the needy

As the EXXon exec said , they are out there to make money. Money is their God. The needy be damned. W's America.

[Coastie for Truth]

3. Do more then complain and assign blame--

I have been assured by ARC that contributions to the are getting through - because they are processed through the ICRC in Geneva. I have also been assured by the ARC that this program is a beneficiary of the Palestinian Red Crescent Society.

DUers should also check out

[Stockholm]

8. That might be true but according to the PRCS

Their work is being restricted...

http://www.palestinercs.org/pressreleases/Year%202006/pr300406wbrr.htm

http://www.palestinercs.org/pressreleases/Year%202006/pr230406wbrr.htm

I have tried to find a link to a statement that the monies are getting through but cannot find one. Do you have one?

[Violet_Crumble]

9. Thanks for posting those links...

n/t

[Coastie for Truth]

10. Thank you for the links

That does not conflict with what I posted.

The link is on Crossnet - which is password protected.

Coastie
---ARC Shelter Manager
---ARC DSHR Shelter Manager
---ARC Disaster Telecommunication Specialist
---Ongoing Katrina Caseworker

[Stockholm]

12. Sorry if my post sounded negative

or doubtful of you or your knowledge and commitment - it was absolutely not my intent.

I am donating to a lot of causes and like you I just want to be sure the money gets through.

IMHO this information should be in the FAQ section, not behind a password.

[Englander]

11. Sounds like the ARC have got their wires crossed.

'Source: Palestinian National Authority (PNA)

Date: 24 Apr 2006

Al Shifa hospital in Gaza might close down if int'l suspension of aid continues

GAZA, Palestine, April 24, 2006 (IPC) - The director of Public Relations at Al Shifa Hospital, the largest hospital in the Gaza Strip, Dr. Jomaa Al Saqqa, warned that the hospital might be threatened of closing within two weeks if the Israeli closure and international suspension of financial aid continued.

Dr. Al Saqqa also referred to the severe shortage in medicines and medical supplies in the hospital, adding that "if this situation continues, most of our departments will shut down in two weeks. Our storage of 200 medicines is about to run out, and we lack basic supplies like bandages and oxygen tubes."

He also listed a large number of medications that are lacking, including antibiotics, cancer treatments or medicines to suppress the body's reaction to transplanted organs, in addition to blood transfusion solutions, spare parts for CAT scanners, and kidney dialysis devices.

"I don't want to sound pessimistic, but we are heading for a disaster … have stopped operating on patients whose lives are endangered, and treat only emergency conditions," the public relations director explained.

http://www.reliefweb.int/rw/RWB.NSF/db900SID/VBOL-6P6HNN?OpenDocument

[madrchsod]

4. the only hope is that russia can impress on hamas

to tone down it`s rhetoric and moderate it`s position on terror as a weapon and israel`s right to exist. will the palestinian people stand behind their democracy and defy the israelis and americans? i guess we will soon find out.

[Tom Joad]

6. Whatever your views on Hamas,

It is a crime against humanity to lay siege against a people to the point where medical supplies are not available/fuel is unavailable for basic needs, food in short supply... all because a political party does not accede to certain demands.

[madrchsod]

16. i agree with you completely

and my views on this has not changed since the late 60`s. i do think however that if hamas moves to the "center" it places israeli government into a different position. everyone wanted a democracy and some didn`t like what the people wanted. what i find amazing is that russia is now going to be a player in the middle east again just as they were back in the 60`s. i guess i`d better hide my commie paperbacks on the israeli-palestinian problem from the cities or the feds will come knocking on my door again...

[Tom Joad]

5. People who want to help the children of Gaza are encouraged to:

Demand that Israel and the United States recognize the basic human rights of the Palestinian people. That aid should flow freely, and the impossible restrictions placed on trade be lifted. Tax money collected Israel on the Palestinian behalf must be given to the Palestine Authority so that Teachers, Hospitals, and other essential services can continue. Economic activity must be allowed.

Read
Jimmy Carter: Punishing the innocent is a crime
http://iht.com/articles/2006/05/07/opinion/edcarter.php

2. Donate. Middle East Children's Alliance is a great place to start. Tax Deductible.
http://www.mecaforpeace.org/

More about Israel's policy regarding intensifying Palestinian suffering. See http://www.zmag.org/content/showarticle.cfm?SectionID=107&ItemID=9785

As an occupying power, it is the responsibility of the occupier to make sure that the basic needs of the people in the occupied territory are met. That is part of the Geneva Convention.

[applegrove]

7. Well that is just wrong. I though that medical and food aid was not

affected.

[Igel]

13. Yes and no.

No, humanitarian aid as such wasn't affected, and there were plans to ramp up aid via NGOs, but ramping up takes time, so yes, it was affected. But the hospitals were run by the PA, and this was a problem that increased the effect.

This is also Gaza. Reports are that in the West Bank it's not as bad. But I'm in Houston, so I'm just going off of reports. The point, however, is that there's also a logistics problem: you have the main border crossing closed, it's not just courgettes that don't get to their destination, it's also insulin and heparin.

Then there are the reports that those with guns and official positions outrank those without guns in the 'food chain': if you have the choice between providing medication to the reasonably-but-not-completely healthy relative of somebody with a gun standing in your office, and the deathly sick kid of a widow who's in the ward down the hall, which do you choose?

[Tom Joad]

14. Nearly everyone is suffering in Gaza.

The "disengagement" was mean to end Israel's responsibility for years of occupation and de-devolopement of Gaza and its economy. Now they are strangling its economy.
What is needed more than anything is an end to the prison-lockdown that is Gaza.
Open the seaports. Open the airport. Billions of dollars of reconstruction aid.
not just charity, but justice.

From Sara Roy:
Since 2000, the economy of the Gaza Strip and the West Bank has lost a potential income of approximately $6.4 billion and suffered $3.5 billion worth of physical damage at the hands of the Israeli army. This means, according to the UN Conference on Trade and Development, that the 'occupied Palestinian territory has lost at least one fifth of its economic base over the last four years as a consequence of war and occupation.' Yet the authors of the Plan are confident that 'the process of disengagement will serve to dispel claims regarding Israel's responsibility for the Palestinians in the Gaza Strip.' They assume, in other words, that Gaza's suffering is a recent phenomenon borne of the last five years of intifada, and that the return of the land taken up by military installations and settlements - anywhere from 15 to 30 per cent of the territory - and the removal of 9000 Israeli settlers will soon redress the situation. Israel's primary role in creating Palestine's misery and decline since it occupied the West Bank and Gaza in 1967 is expunged from the narrative.

There is no doubt that the destruction wrought by Israel over the last five years - the demolition of homes (some 4600 between 2000 and 2004), schools, roads, factories, workshops, hospitals, mosques and greenhouses, the razing of agricultural fields, the uprooting of trees, the confinement of the population and the denial of access to education and health services as a consequence of Israeli roadblocks and checkpoints - has been ruinous for Palestinians, especially those in the Gaza Strip.
http://www.zmag.org/content/showarticle.cfm?SectionID=22&ItemID=10182

[anewdeal]

15. If Hamas focused on serving their people

instead of of warring with Israel they could provide the service the Palestinians deserve.

[Englander]

17. Patients die as doctors run out of drugs to treat them

Chris McGreal in Gaza City
Wednesday May 10, 2006
The Guardian

Ahmed Ayad was unfortunate to fall sick under what Israel and its allies in the west are defining as the "ministries of terror".

The 42-year-old Palestinian father of five began kidney dialysis at a hospital in Gaza City six weeks ago at just about the time Israel's blockade of the Gaza Strip and international sanctions against the Hamas government began to bite in the health ministry.

The resulting shortages of drugs and others supplies have forced Shifa hospital to cut back Mr Ayad's dialysis treatment.

>snip

But Mr Ayad has been lucky. Shifa hospital says four people receiving dialysis have died over the past three weeks because of the shortages. It is the same in the cancer ward, where there is a diminishing supply of chemotherapy drugs, and other parts of the hospital where even basic antibiotics have not arrived for a month.

Mr Ayad is also fortunate that there is someone to treat him. None of the medical staff at Shifa has been paid for the past two months. It is the same for the rest of the Palestinian Authority's 160,000 workers whose wages usually come from a mix of foreign aid and customs duties now frozen by Israel with increasingly serious consequences for the 1 million Palestinians - one in four of the population - supported by government salaries.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/international/story/0,,1771199,00.html