Palestinian Health Ministry in Gaza yesterday announced that it is suffering from a 35 percent deficit in cancer medicines, Anadolu reported.
Speaking to the news site, Director of the Pharmaceutical Department Muneer Al-Borsh said: “A shortage of one medicine negatively affect the treatment protocol of a cancer patient.”
Al-Borsh added that the 14-year-old Israeli siege imposed on the Gaza Strip along with the restrictions put in place due to coronavirus and the sanctions imposed by the Palestinian Authority (PA) in Ramallah are the reasons for the deficit.
The #Coronavirus lockdown puts #Gaza's🇵🇸 cancer patients on the edge.👇 pic.twitter.com/iy28w7tdeO
— a21middleeastnews (@a21middleeastn1) May 30, 2020
He said that the Ministry of Health in Ramallah sent only $2 million of the $40 million in administration and operational fees since the start of the year.
Meanwhile, Al-Borsh said that the ministry in Gaza provides medical services to cancer patients through the private Al-Hayat Hospital, stating that the medical services at this hospital are incomplete.
Al-Mezan Centre for Human Rights called on the PA in Ramallah to afford the expenses of comprehensive medical treatment for cancer patients in Gaza.
The organization said that the medical services for cancer patients in Gaza are limited and the patients are currently facing multiple challenges, including shortages in medical supplies.
Aside from all the work that Mohammed did to help the weakest sector in Gaza society, much of his efforts focused on helping cancer patients who were denied access to proper health care & life-saving medicines | Khalil Halabi & Ramzy Baroud https://t.co/gtk2zv8i75 pic.twitter.com/tlSu7nzDuH
— Ramzy Baroud (@RamzyBaroud) June 17, 2019
According to the statistics of the Ministry of Health in Gaza, approximately 6,000 cancer patients receive treatment in the Strip.
Gaza, with a population of 2 million, has been under a hermetic Israeli siege since 2006, when the Palestinian group Hamas won the democratic legislative elections in occupied Palestine. Since then, Israel has carried out numerous bombing campaigns and several major wars, that resulted in the death of thousands of people.
(Palestine Chronicle, MEMO, Social Media)
