Health situation in Gaza on edge of collapse due to medical shortage: ministry

GAZA, May 2 (Xinhua) -- The health situation in the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip is on edge of a looming collapse amid severe shortage of medicines and medical supplies, the Health Ministry in Gaza warned on Wednesday.

Yousef Abu al-Reesh, deputy minister of health in Gaza, told a news conference at the Shiffa Hospital in Gaza city that the ministry "passes through a phase that is the worst as a result of the worsening crises in the health sector."

Abu al-Reesh pointed out that the percentage of deficit in medicines reached 50 percent, adding that there is a 27 percent shortage in the medical consumables, and 58 percent shortage in the laboratory materials and blood banks.

The situation is further exacerbated by the continued depletion of emergency medicines as a result of the Israeli-Palestinian clashes over the past weeks along the Israeli border with Gaza.

Abu al-Reesh said that the shortage of supplies affected all categories of patients in the Palestinian enclave.

He called on world donors to support the ministry and prevent the health sector from collapsing.

Abu Reesh also called on international and Palestinian human rights organizations to shoulder their responsibilities by exposing Israel's "blatant violation" of the rights of patients to limit their access to medical treatment.

The Gaza border crossings with Israel have been affected by the clashes near the border fence, which has been closed since Jan. 30.

The health ministry said that 44 Palestinians, most of them with live gunshots, have been killed and more than 6,000 others injured in the clashes since March 30.

The Palestinian protests are expected to reach a peak on May 15, a day after the 70th anniversary of the establishment of Israel that is marked by the Palestinians as Nakba Day, or Day of Catastrophe. Enditem