In a rare and welcome move, the World Health Organization announced that more than 100 patients, including children, suffering from severe trauma and chronic illnesses, will be medically evacuated from Gaza on Wednesday to countries where they can receive treatment. medical treatment for their condition.
“These are one-off measures. What we have repeatedly requested is a sustained medical evacuation (medical evacuation) out of Gaza, an organized and sustained medical evacuation,” said Dr Rik Peeperkorn, WHO Representative for the Occupied Palestinian Territory , during a phone call Tuesday with journalists in Geneva.
Speaking in Gaza, Peeperkorn said that as many as 113 patients who are “on the Health Ministry’s priority list” for medical evacuation will be gathered at the European Hospital in Gaza this evening “and from six am – that’s the plan – they will be. be brought to Kerem Shalom, then cross Kerem Shalom to Ramallah airport.
“The majority of patients will go to the United Arab Emirates,” he said, “and then I think about 13 patients will go to Romania. So that’s the plan for tomorrow.
While affirming the importance of the operation, Peeperkorn noted that the number of people evacuated from war-torn Gaza was paltry compared to the needs.
“We estimate that about 12,000 to 14,000 critical patients need to be evacuated, half of them probably trauma-related – what we call severe trauma cases – amputations, spinal cord injuries, burns, etc., the other half being chronic cases.” including cancer, cardiovascular, blood and liver diseases, he said.
Before the Rafah crossing in southern Gaza, near the Egyptian border, closed on May 6, nearly 5,000 patients were evacuated outside the Palestinian enclave. Since then, only 282 patients have been evacuated. The last WHO-led operation took place on September 11, when 97 sick and seriously injured patients and 155 attendants were transported out of Gaza via Kerem Shalom for treatment.
“We cannot continue as we are doing now. We need medical corridors,” Peeperkorn said. “The first medical corridors that we have repeatedly called for to be restored are the traditional referral routes from Gaza to East Jerusalem and the West Bank to the hospitals already there.
“And a second medical corridor should be opened again to Egypt, and perhaps to Jordan, and from there, when other countries are willing to receive patients, they can go to other regions” , he declared.
As plans to transport patients out of the Gaza Strip move forward, a second round of polio vaccinations, intended to reach more than half a million children under 10, is nearing completion.
The World Health Organization says a second dose of the new oral polio vaccine has been given to more than 450,000 children, and more than 364,000 children have received vitamin A in central and southern Africa. Gaza.
Unfortunately, a similar campaign “was compromised” in northern Gaza due to the dire conditions prevailing in the area.
Peeperkorn said the technical committee, composed of the Ministry of Health, WHO, UNICEF, UNRWA and partner NGOs, decided to postpone the vaccination campaign from October 23 to November 2 “in due to lack of access, lack of assured humanitarian breaks, intense bombing and mass evacuation orders.
“The committee decided to move forward after the delay and do our best to cover as many children as possible,” he said, noting that between November 2 and 4, the campaign succeeded in vaccinating 88% of the 119,000 children under 10 targeted. , and it provided vitamin A to nearly 84,000 children.
“This is an exceptional achievement,” he said, while acknowledging that it will take weeks, if not months, “to know how successful this campaign was.”
Peeperkorn participated in a mission that arrived at Kamal Adwan Hospital on Sunday, successfully delivering medical and surgical supplies, as well as other urgent goods such as fuel, food and water. The team also transferred 25 patients and 37 companions to Shifa Hospital in Gaza City.
The WHO official painted an alarming picture of living conditions in northern Gaza and the dangers faced by both medical staff and patients.
“There was intense shelling near the hospital, even during the mission,” he said. “Shortly after the WHO mission left Kamal Adwan Hospital, the third floor of the facility was reportedly hit, injuring six children who are patients there. A child was reportedly seriously injured. Water tanks were damaged.
He said: “The needs are enormous. The emergency department is full of patients, more than 40 injured. The inpatient ward was also full of hospitalized patients and their caregivers.
Northern Gaza has three hospitals. Peeperkorn said the Indonesian hospital is not functional and the other two hospitals, Kamal Adwan and al-Awda, are “only minimally functional.” …There are no primary health care centers or functional medical points in northern Gaza.
While around 150,000 people “were forcibly evacuated from the area”, he noted that there remained an estimated population of 75,000 people.
Given the health situation in northern Gaza, he said: “It is extremely vital that these hospitals remain functional.”
