Hyderabad: The ongoing Israeli onslaught on Palestine has not spared even the essential healthcare system with as many as 600 patients and healthcare workers forced to leave the vital Al-Aqsa Hospital in the Middle Area of Gaza, Director General of the World Health Organisation (WHO), Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said on Monday. In an elaborate post on X, the WHO chief said that the World Health Organisation has received troubling reports of increasing hostilities and ongoing evacuation orders near the vital Al-Aqsa Hospital in the Middle Area of Gaza which according to the facility’s director forced over 600 patients and most health workers to leave.
“Their locations are not currently known. Earlier today WHO and UNOCHA visited Al-Aqsa and saw large numbers of wounded people being brought in for urgent treatment,” he said. He said that the health facility reported immense needs, especially health workers, medical supplies and beds. “But staff said their greatest need was for their hospital, and its staff, patients and families there, to be protected from strikes and hostilities,” he added.
-
.@WHO has received troubling reports of increasing hostilities and ongoing evacuation orders near the vital Al-Aqsa Hospital in the Middle Area of #Gaza, which according to the facility’s director forced over 600 patients and most health workers to leave. Their locations are not… pic.twitter.com/Vzd9UWThNm
— Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus (@DrTedros) January 7, 2024 " class="align-text-top noRightClick twitterSection" data="
">.@WHO has received troubling reports of increasing hostilities and ongoing evacuation orders near the vital Al-Aqsa Hospital in the Middle Area of #Gaza, which according to the facility’s director forced over 600 patients and most health workers to leave. Their locations are not… pic.twitter.com/Vzd9UWThNm
— Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus (@DrTedros) January 7, 2024.@WHO has received troubling reports of increasing hostilities and ongoing evacuation orders near the vital Al-Aqsa Hospital in the Middle Area of #Gaza, which according to the facility’s director forced over 600 patients and most health workers to leave. Their locations are not… pic.twitter.com/Vzd9UWThNm
— Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus (@DrTedros) January 7, 2024
“Three months into this conflict, it is inconceivable that this most essential need—the protection of health care—is not assured. No hospitals are fully functioning in Northern Gaza, where another WHO mission was canceled today due to dangers and lack of necessary permissions. Elsewhere in Gaza, a mere handful of health facilities operate. At Al-Aqsa, WHO staff saw sickening scenes of people of all ages being treated on blood-streaked floors and in chaotic corridors,” said the WHO chief.
“An unidentified child laid dead, partially covered by a sheet, on a bed. Other injured were prostrate on the floor, being stepped over by the health staff and families. A man’s harrowing groans, either from pain or anguish, cut through the emergency ward’s commotion,” he added. He said that the Al-Aqsa hospital was extremely short-staffed adding that partners at Medical Aid for Palestinians and International Rescue Committee have decided that due to increasing military activity around Al-Aqsa Hospital they have been forced to withdraw their staff working at the hospital and cease activities.
The WHO chief said that on 6 Jan MSF took similar action due to evacuation orders in areas close to the hospital. “During today’s mission, we were informed that evacuation orders and lack of safety had forced most health staff to leave. Tonight’s reports indicate that only 5 doctors remain. Hospital management said health workers had no food,” said the WHO chief.
He said that the WHO team delivered medical supplies to support 4500 patients needing dialysis for 3 months and 500 patients requiring trauma care. WHO is planning to facilitate the much-needed deployment of an emergency medical team to support the overstretched doctors and nurses of Al-Aqsa, he said. “This will only be possible in a secure environment. In recent weeks, the lowest number of daily casualties received at the hospital was 14 fatalities and 48 people suffering trauma,” he added.
“But in past days this has increased markedly, with over 120 trauma cases and dozens of dead arriving per day due to increased shelling, gunshot wounds, crush injuries from collapsed buildings, and other war-related trauma. Al-Aqsa is the most important hospital remaining in Gaza’s Middle Area and must remain functional, and protected, to deliver its lifesaving services. Further erosion of its functionality cannot be permitted – doing so in the face of such trauma, injury and humanitarian suffering would be a moral and medical outrage,” he added.
