Returning From Khan Younis, Canadian Surgeon Says Gaza's Health System Is Worse Than Expected

Palestinian refugee tents in the Khan Younis region. (Source: WHO via UN)

JAKARTA - The health system in the Hamas-Israel war-torn Gaza Strip is worse than expected, said a health expert who recently returned from the southern Palestinian enclave.

"You have to decide who you will save and who to leave behind," said Dr. Anas Al-Kassem, as reported by CNN on January 10.

Dr. Anas Al-Kassem is a Canadian surgeon who has just returned from Gaza, after spending two weeks working at Khan Younis, south of the Palestinian enclave.

He has detailed the impossible decisions that some of the remaining doctors have to take, as staff, equipment and supplies are very few amid Israeli attacks.

Al-Kassem told CNN on Wednesday the condition of the health system in Gaza was " Worse than I expected."

"I think it's worse than I expected, to be honest with you," he said, adding Israeli bombings in Gaza were more intense than what he experienced while working in Aleppo, Syria during the civil war.

The health care system may not be the best, as the siege of Gaza over the years, he said, adding that in the current war the system is on the verge of collapse and 100 percent is really collapsing.

The lack of adequate medical supplies has had an impact on other health facilities in the region, he said.

"We lack equipment, medicines, CT machines scans, and so on, let alone a shortage of drugs (such as) analytics, antibiotics," said Al-Kassem, adding she had to do stitches on the patient without anesthesia, so she could save her for major surgery.

Israel's siege and strict restrictions on food, fuel and water entering Gaza have destroyed the healthcare system, forcing medical workers to grapple with seriously injured patients in critical supply-deficient environments and infrastructure. That happened after the Hamas militant group attacked Israel's southern region on 7 October.

Only 13 of the 36 hospitals in Gaza function in part and bed capacity reaches 351 percent, according to the Palestinian Ministry of Health in Ramallah.

In Deir al-Balah, Syuhada Al-Aqsa Hospital reported receiving dozens of casualties from several areas of central Gaza, as a result of intense airstrikes that hit the region. Further south, where the Israeli military concentrated part of its military operations, the World Health Organization (WHO) stressed they were "unable" to lose the remaining operational hospital.