26 May 2017
Last week the Ministry of Health (MoH) in Gaza announced that 33% of essential medicines and 31% of medical disposables are at ‘zero stock’, meaning that less than a month’s supply is available on shelves. This poses a grave threat to patients in Gaza. MAP is supplying hospitals in Gaza with medications through our emergency response plan to help ensure that patients can continue receiving vital, lifesaving care. We recently supplied 9000 units of hemodialysis concentrate for patients undergoing treatment for kidney failure.
In Gaza there are currently 27 children and 620 adults with kidney failure whose lives depend on regular hemodialysis. This treatment cleans a patient’s blood and removes extra fluid from the body, a function that healthy kidneys normally do. More than 100 of these patients are acute cases and need hemodialysis 10 times a month. Without regular access to it, these patients could die.
Dr. Zakari Abo Qamar, from the Central Drug Store in Gaza, said that MAP’s recent donation had resolved the problem temporarily. Without the concentrate, he noted, “patients would be forced to seek referral to the West Bank for hemodialysis, which is not possible given the current closure, and is also unsafe for patients who cannot skip a single session of treatment as it will endanger their lives.”
Dr. Zakari also told MAP that many other patients, such as cancer patients and those who suffer from cystic fibrosis, are at a high risk of losing their lives due to the shortages of medications.
While MAP’s intervention is critical in the short term, it only addresses a small portion of patients’ needs in Gaza. Unless the international community takes urgent action to address the severe shortage of vital medical supplies patient’s lives will continue to be put at risk as their treatment may no longer be available.
Patients in Gaza remain in desperate need. MAP can only get the medicines to those in need with your support.