AhlulBayt News Agency: The international humanitarian group Médecins Sans Frontières, also known as Doctors Without Borders or MSF, warned in a recent statement that newborn babies and other patients are at dire risk as southern Gaza’s Nasser Hospital has almost run out of fuel.
The group warned that electricity for the MSF-supported Nasser Hospital, where MSF members are providing emergency, maternity, pediatric, burn, and trauma care, may be cut off for some hospital departments leaving patients without “lifesaving care.”
The hospital’s neonatal intensive care unit is currently treating children and newborns who are reliant on mechanical ventilation and incubators. All of these young patients are dependent on electricity from fuel generators, MSF said.
The Nasser Hospital, as well as two other facilities in the Gaza Strip, Al-Aqsa Hospital and the European Gaza Hospital, are about to stop providing services due to the lack of fuel, MSF reported Wednesday.
“It is an impossible situation, because even if we prioritize the little fuel that is left to the most urgent departments, we know that they will not last more than 36 to 48 hours,” Julie Faucon, MSF medical team leader in Gaza, said.
“While some patients are hanging on by a thread, the lack of sustained electricity is impacting the level of care we can provide to those with burns and trauma,” Faucon added.
For her part, Pascale Coissard, MSF emergency coordinator, warned that without fuel, Gaza newborns are at risk of losing their lives.
“The babies in incubators rely on constant electricity for the ventilators that are keeping them alive. They are already in an extremely vulnerable state, and any transfer to other hospitals would directly endanger their lives. Putting the lives of children at risk like this is unacceptable and is a consequence of Israel’s ongoing blockade and continuous looting of lifesaving supplies,” Coissard explained.
MSF called on all parties to do more to facilitate the entry of fuel into Gaza and to ensure its safe delivery to medical facilities.
“The dismantling of Gaza’s health system by the Israeli blockade, which is endangering people’s lives, must stop immediately,” MSF underscored.
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The group warned that electricity for the MSF-supported Nasser Hospital, where MSF members are providing emergency, maternity, pediatric, burn, and trauma care, may be cut off for some hospital departments leaving patients without “lifesaving care.”
The hospital’s neonatal intensive care unit is currently treating children and newborns who are reliant on mechanical ventilation and incubators. All of these young patients are dependent on electricity from fuel generators, MSF said.
The Nasser Hospital, as well as two other facilities in the Gaza Strip, Al-Aqsa Hospital and the European Gaza Hospital, are about to stop providing services due to the lack of fuel, MSF reported Wednesday.
“It is an impossible situation, because even if we prioritize the little fuel that is left to the most urgent departments, we know that they will not last more than 36 to 48 hours,” Julie Faucon, MSF medical team leader in Gaza, said.
“While some patients are hanging on by a thread, the lack of sustained electricity is impacting the level of care we can provide to those with burns and trauma,” Faucon added.
For her part, Pascale Coissard, MSF emergency coordinator, warned that without fuel, Gaza newborns are at risk of losing their lives.
“The babies in incubators rely on constant electricity for the ventilators that are keeping them alive. They are already in an extremely vulnerable state, and any transfer to other hospitals would directly endanger their lives. Putting the lives of children at risk like this is unacceptable and is a consequence of Israel’s ongoing blockade and continuous looting of lifesaving supplies,” Coissard explained.
MSF called on all parties to do more to facilitate the entry of fuel into Gaza and to ensure its safe delivery to medical facilities.
“The dismantling of Gaza’s health system by the Israeli blockade, which is endangering people’s lives, must stop immediately,” MSF underscored.
/129