The Abu Yusuf Al-Najjar Hospital in the southern Gaza Strip will cease functioning within nine days due to a lack of fuel needed for its electricity generators, Gaza’s Health Ministry warned today.
In a statement, the ministry said that if health services are halted at the Rafah-based hospital 250,000 people could be affected.
Hospitals in Gaza to Collapse over fuel running outhttps://t.co/6FebKcvU1O
— AlresalahEn (@AlresalahEn) September 12, 2018
Roughly 400 patients regularly visit the hospital to receive vital medical treatment, including dialysis, the ministry said.
In recent weeks, the ministry has repeatedly warned of the impending collapse of Gaza’s local health sector due to a chronic shortage of fuel needed to keep hospitals’ emergency generators up and running.
The fuel reserves for health system are sufficient for only few days. if a solution is not found, #Gaza's hospitals and health care centers will be forced to close essential services and thousands of lives will be at risk#Palestine @UNICEFpalestine @UNDPPalestinian @UNRWA pic.twitter.com/VYGVB9ZbBx
— Mahmoud Hinnawi (@mahmoudhinnawi3) September 10, 2018
Home to some two million people, the Gaza Strip has a total of 13 government-run hospitals and 54 primary health care centers, which together account for roughly 95 percent of all health services in the coastal enclave.
Gaza is suffering from an acute shortage of electricity as a result of the 11-year Israeli imposed siege. Both Egypt and the Palestinian Authority have supported the blockage by imposing further limitations on the Strip.
(MEMO, PC, Social Media)
