An MSF doctor: “What’s happening in Gaza is a humanitarian emergency like I’ve never seen before” future planet

Mariam (fictitious name) is 11 years old and her life has changed forever. The girl lost both legs in a bombing. One was amputated just below the hip and the other at knee height at an Indonesian hospital in Rafah, south of the Gaza Strip, where he arrived with his mother and two sisters, who also suffered amputations . The four are among the more than 67,000 Palestinians in Gaza who have been injured so far in the war with Israel, many of whom will have to recover in a makeshift tent after being discharged, often consisting of just four sticks and a piece of cloth. . At the mercy of plastic, cold and rain. In these situations, their wounds are at high risk of becoming infected and they are much less likely to require additional reconstructive surgery.

In December I traveled to Gaza with a team from Doctors Without Borders (MSF). Our main objectives were two. First, provide support to the emergency department and operating room at Nasser Hospital, in Khan Yunis, south of the Strip, where we perform reconstructive plastic surgery and skin grafts. And second, find a place that was away from the front lines and where we could work safely, because it was clear that we would not be able to stay in Nasser Hospital for much longer.

The plastic surgeons on our team had only been working there for two days when the Israeli army warned that it was going to start bombing the nearby area. Our team of international workers had to withdraw from the medical center over Christmas, although many Palestinian colleagues decided to continue caring for the sick and injured despite the risk to their lives. Barely a month later, at the end of January, when I returned, the hospital needed for displaced people in Khan Yunis was almost completely evacuated. A small number of staff are still trapped inside, including several MSF workers, due to intense fighting in the area at this time.

After this disappointing first phase, we focused on starting the Indonesian field hospital in Rafah and equipping our staff with trauma kits. The high risk of being caught in a firefight or crossfire made it essential that all of our staff, including drivers and other non-medical personnel, acquire some basic life-saving skills, such as applying pressure bandages and using a tourniquet .

What is happening in Gaza cannot be compared to any other conflict. He had already worked with MSF in other conflict areas. For example, I was in the Central African Republic and the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and I also went to Ukraine, right after Russia stepped up its aggression; In March 2022. But what is happening in Gaza is a humanitarian emergency like I have never seen before. Because of the horrors of the bombings, because of the limitations in providing medical humanitarian assistance due to indiscriminate attacks and because of the complete lack of respect for the lives of medical personnel and the integrity of health facilities. The intensity of attacks throughout Gaza, the small size of the territory, 365 square kilometers, and its huge population density turn the Strip into a death trap from which escape is impossible.

The shortage of medical supplies and equipment is also shocking and very difficult to manage. Nasir Hospital’s emergency room, which was filled with admitted patients, had only two trauma bays available for emergencies and hardly any beds, so most patients had to be treated on the floor. Many machines used to monitor patients were not working or were missing parts needed to function properly. And we had to ration the few medicines available.

At the Indonesian field hospital in Rafah, although we had a surgeon on our team, we did not have enough painkillers to numb and prevent infection, such as lidocaine, a local anesthetic used for dressing changes and small but necessary procedures. Used for specific purposes, such as removing dead or infected tissue. It is also a type of anesthesia used for tooth extraction. And other colleagues working in other hospitals faced even worse conditions and had to perform urgent operations such as amputations without general anesthesia.

Palestinians in Gaza are not statistics. We talk about 100, 200 deaths a day, but people forget that these are children, mothers and fathers, including my Palestinian colleagues at MSF, who continue to work every day knowing that their relatives Can die at that time.

Edward Chu, MSF

Hospitals are filled with the wounded, but people with chronic health problems, cancer and other medical conditions continue to have the same needs they had before October 7, only to be made worse by the situation they now find themselves in. Has been. For most of them, it is too dangerous to try to reach health centers and even if they can, it is very difficult to get the medicines they need, such as insulin for diabetes, medicines for high blood pressure or hospitalization. Anticoagulants, so that they do not develop life-threatening blood clots.

When the bombing stopped during a brief humanitarian pause in November, hospitals were flooded with patients who had suffered heart attacks, strokes and diabetic emergencies in the previous weeks and had not been treated until then. Many others died without receiving medical care. When fighting resumed on 1 December, many more people with similar problems were again sentenced to die in their homes, in the schools and buildings where they took refuge, or in the fields where they were protected from the bombs. Let’s try to stay.

The number of victims of this war is shocking. At the end of my mission, as we crossed the Rafah border to return to Egypt, we saw a large number of Egyptian Red Crescent ambulances lined up, waiting to receive patients requiring evacuation. But they were all empty, because no one came out from there. We also saw hundreds of trucks loaded with humanitarian aid waiting to enter, but the reality is that only a few trucks pass through each day. As the sound of constant gunfire receded, it became difficult for me to think about the Palestinians we were leaving behind; An endangered population that does not receive the humanitarian assistance it desperately needs.

Palestinians in Gaza are not statistics. We talk about 100, 200 deaths a day, but people forget that these are children, mothers and fathers, including my Palestinian colleagues at MSF, who continue to work every day knowing that their relatives At that time one could die in an attack. Which happened at all hours. Every day we said goodbye to them, we did so knowing that there was a chance we might not see them again the next day.

We cannot allow the thousands of injuries and approximately 30,000 deaths caused by this attack to be treated as simple numbers. They are children like Mary or citizens like any of my colleagues.

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