Gaza hospitals stop surgeries due to drug shortage (Roundup)

Oct 21, 2007, 21:44 GMT

Gaza City - Hospitals throughout Gaza have shut down their operating rooms due to a lack of essential anaesthetic drugs, the Hamas de facto administration in the Strip said.

Khaled Radi, spokesman for the Hamas-led Health Ministry, said that a mediator company had informed them that Israel did not allow delivery of nitrous oxide, used as anaesthetic in surgery operations.

'There were 44 cylinders in stock, and 42 of them have been used so far. We have begun using the remaining two cylinders since Thursday, and they will run out any time,' Radi said.

However, an Israeli military spokesman said it would allow in the medical supplies.

'Tomorrow the nitrous oxide will be sent into Gaza,' said Shadi Yassin from the Israeli coordination body responsible for Gaza.

He blamed health officials in the enclave for not informing Israel of the shortage earlier.

The ministry has sent urgent appeals to several organizations to intervene, including the World Health Organization (WHO), warning that thousands of patients are in danger.

Radi accused Israel of violating international law by threatening the lives of patients.

Israel declared Gaza 'hostile territory' last month, a response to the violent takeover of the territory by the militant Islamic Hamas movement and its failure to stop near-daily rocket attacks from the area toward southern Israeli towns and villages.

Israel has since further tightened its closure on the strip.

Between October 12-17, it allowed the transfer of 114 people needing urgent medical treatment in Israel outside the Gaza Strip, the Health Ministry said. But it prevented the transfers of 30 other patients, citing security reasons, the ministry said.

In a report published Saturday, Human Rights Watch said that three Gaza patients have died because they were denied exit permits by Israel, while others have lost limbs or sight.

The non-governmental organization accused the Israeli Shin Bet internal security organization of giving clearance on an 'arbitrary basis,' and Israel of 'punishing sick civilians as a way to hurt Hamas.'