14 May 2006: Crisis in medical services in the territories

The cessation of the transfer of tax moneys and financial assistance to the Palestinian Authority by Israel and the donor states has created a severe shortage of medicines and medical equipment and goods in hospitals in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, most of which are administered by the PA. Certain kinds of medicines have run out completely.

The companies that manufacture and import the medicines refuse to supply medicines to the hospitals, either because they have not been paid for earlier shipments, or because they are uncertain they will be paid for the medicines that have been ordered. The situation has led many patients to buy the medicines from private pharmacies. Medical equipment and goods needed to operate the hospitals – such as materials for laboratory use and to anesthetize surgical patients, disposable gloves, cleaning materials, and hospital forms – are lacking.

The shortage of medicines and medical equipment and goods is especially grave in the hospitals and private laboratories in the Gaza Strip. The shortage results from Israel 's repeated closure of the Karni crossing by Israel , and not only from the financial crisis. Most goods to the Gaza Strip that come from the West Bank, Israel, or abroad pass through Karni, which has been closed two out of every three days since the beginning of the year. According to recent media reports, four dialysis patients at Shifa Hospital , in Gaza City , died after they failed to receive necessary medicines.

The hospitals have been unable to function properly because hospital staff and workers, who are employed by the PA, have not been paid for two months. At al-Ahali Hospital , in Hebron , which is not run by the PA, the employees also have not received their salaries. The reason is the sharp decline in revenues, resulting from a drop in the number of patients, who do not have the money to pay because of the economic crisis in which the Palestinian population is mired.

If the current situation continues, it is believed, the health system in the Occupied Territories will collapse totally within a short time and, as a result, a major humanitarian crisis will follow.