RAMALLAH, June 13 (JMCC) - Officials in Gaza are reporting that pharmaceutical supplies in local hospitals are at a critical low point, affecting the kinds of procedures that medical staff are able to perform.
Human rights organizations and the Gaza government called for international intervention to ease the crisis, brought on by unpaid bills to drug companies,
reports al-Jazeera.
Adham Abu Salmia, Gaza's Ambulance and Emergency spokesman, says the medical crisis is acute and near catastrophic levels for patients within the health sector of Gaza. If shipment of medicines are not replenished to Gaza stocks in the coming weeks, he says it will worsen.
Dr Basim Naim, the minister of health in the de facto government of Gaza, says 178 types of necessary medications are at near zero balance in stock. He says more than 190 types of medicine in stock are either expired or are close to their expiry date, which has forced his administration to postpone several medical operations.
According to Al Mezan Center for Human Rights, the shortage in stock represents 50 per cent of the total medicine on the inventory of the Palestinian Ministry of Health in Gaza.
The Gaza Strip is under a tight Israeli blockade, with the entry and exit of goods closely regulated. In the past, this has caused shortages of medical supplies.