Dr. Ashraf Al-Qudra, the spokesman for the Health Ministry in Gaza, has warned of a new and unprecedented drop in the ministry’s stores of medicine.

He said in a press release on Saturday that 180 kinds of medicines and 210 kinds of medical consumables were depleted in the warehouses of the General Directorate of Pharmacy.

Qudra asserted that the severe deterioration in the drugs’ availability is the most dangerous in the series of the Pharmaceutical crises in the Strip, which is considered to be the most important result of the Gaza siege.

The spokesman said that the continued shortage of medicines and medical supplies is intensifying day by day and represents a direct threat to the health services in all sectors.

Simultaneously, he warned of reaching a real catastrophe that will result in serious impacts on patients in the entire Gaza Strip as a result of these shortages, which reached their highest level since the occupation's imposition of an illegal blockade on Gaza Strip.

In fact, 390 varieties of medicines and medical supplies are currently out of stock, in addition to 150 other kinds which are expected to be depleted during the next three months, Qudra said, adding, “Therefore, more than one third of patients in the Gaza Strip would be seriously affected, especially those with chronic diseases in addition to the serious impact on the laboratories' requirements and radiology departments”.

He pointed out that this coincides with the continued power outages' crisis that is still sweeping areas of the Gaza Strip, directly affecting the health services’ sector.

Qudra called on the international community with all its humanitarian as well as health institutions to end their unjustified silence and to put an end to the suffering of the Gaza Strip's patients as well as to intensify their efforts in order to protect the patients' treatment rights and ensure the continuation of health care.

He also called the national Palestinian factions, the International Committee of the Red Cross, the World Health Organization, and the Centers for human rights and media organizations to put pressure on the Ministry of Health in Ramallah to take a positive attitude toward the patients in the Gaza Strip.

PIC/AB