Gaza City: Director of Al-Ahli Baptist Hospital in Gaza Dr. Fadel Naim said that the extensive damage caused to the hospital by the Israeli occupation forces has significantly impacted its services. He stressed that the hospital will need a long time to restore services, which will impact the hospital’s capabilities as well as the health system.
According to Qatar News Agency, Dr. Naim explained that the health situation in the Gaza Strip is catastrophic due to the weak capabilities of the health system and the repeated targeting of hospitals by the occupation forces, which are trying to recover from the occupation’s policy of destruction. He reported that services in the emergency departments, radiology, and laboratories have come to a complete halt due to the shelling, after they had been operating at minimal capacity to serve patients and the wounded.
He also pointed out that CT scans and x-rays were only available at the Baptist Hospital, noting that over 25,000 CT scans were taken last year, approximately 2,000 scans per month. The suspension of these services following the attacks negatively impacts the health of the injured and patients. Director Naim explained that the Baptist Hospital is the main nerve center of health services in Gaza City and the northern Gaza Strip, providing all services. The hospital administration has been forced to transfer patients and the wounded to other overcrowded and under-equipped hospitals, threatening their lives due to the lack of medical services.
He emphasized that the occupation is systematically destroying hospitals and primary care centers to exacerbate the tragic conditions in the Gaza Strip, having destroyed over 80 health centers and over 140 ambulances. Additionally, more than 60 percent of the Strip’s hospitals have been completely destroyed by the occupation. Fadl Naim pointed out that some health services, including pediatrics and cancer treatment, have disappeared due to the occupation’s targeting, and that most hospitals in the Gaza Strip are now out of service.
The director of the Baptist Hospital warned that Gaza is on the verge of an environmental and health disaster due to the ban on the entry of medicines and children’s vaccines. In the early hours of Sunday morning, the Israeli occupation army bombed the reception building at the Baptist Hospital with two missiles, completely destroying it.