Director of Global Health in Gaza: The situation is stable and the health sector is striving to confront Corona with modest capabilities

Raed Musa - Gaza

Dr. Abdel Nasser Sobh, Director of the World Health Organization office in Gaza, confirmed that the emerging Corona Virus pandemic, "Covid-19", has added new burdens to the health sector, which suffers mainly from difficult challenges related to the huge deficit in medicines and medical consumables, and the human cadre, and many devices are worn out Medical.

Subh said - in an exclusive interview with Al Jazeera Net - "Despite this, the conditions inside the community in Gaza are safe and stable until the moment, and the 17 cases of infection that were discovered are inside the quarantine centers for travelers returning to Gaza, and no community cases were discovered, and we work in The World Health Organization is in constant coordination with the authority in Ramallah and Israel, to provide the needs of the health sector to ensure that it continues to provide services to citizens. "

The following is the text of the interview:

What is your assessment of the current health situation in Gaza?

In the usual situation and before the appearance of the Corona pandemic, the health sector faces many difficult challenges, most notably the shortage of medicines and medical consumables, which sometimes reaches from 40% to 50%, in addition to dilapidated medical devices, the shortage in the human cadre of doctors and workers providing medical services to citizens, and a crisis Power outages and hardware damage. 

The pandemic came to double the burdens of the health sector, as greater needs emerged to respond to the virus, in addition to providing regular services to citizens, and this response cut from the human cadre more than a hundred doctors, nurses and workers to cover the quarantine centers, where about thirty centers were established for the travelers returning to the sector In addition to the allocation of five sorting centers established next to each major hospital in the governorates of the sector, to examine cases and put negativity in stone, and positivity in the field hospital at the Rafah land crossing designated for dealing with the injured.

In addition to all of that, the Ministry of Health employed a lot of equipment and consumables to serve these centers within precautionary measures and measures to prevent the spread of the virus within the community, as this would deplete the health sector with its modest resources.

In the context of preparedness and preparation, the Ministry has identified the European Gaza Hospital to be the hospital that will treat the cases and isolate them in the event of the spread of the virus, and the hospital is currently being prepared with the assistance of the World Health Organization, but we are still far from claiming that the hospital is ready to receive cases at the present time, due to the lack of much Of equipment, equipment and staff training.

 What prevents the hospital from being equipped to work?

This hospital will be central to all of the Gaza Strip, and its absorptive capacity with the three adjacent schools will have 1750 patients, if needed, but we face challenges in providing devices due to global scarcity, for example the hospital needs a testing laboratory, and to raise the number of ventilators available in it from 17 To a hundred devices, knowing that the public, private and private health sector has only 87 devices, two-thirds of these devices are currently occupied in the service of ordinary patients.

Does Gaza really need laboratories and laboratory materials?

Yes, we need that, there was one device in the only laboratory in Gaza that is affiliated with the Ministry of Health, and another device was supplied two weeks ago, and the World Health Organization is currently purchasing a third device, but we need ten devices.

With what devices are available .. What is the laboratory's ability to check daily?

In Gaza, we can perform 500 daily checks. Since the beginning of the pandemic, the World Health Organization has supplied a set of laboratory materials to the Ministry of Health to help it continue to carry out the necessary checks.

How would you describe the health status of people living with HIV in Gaza?

From the beginning of the pandemic until the moment, 17 cases have been recorded, of which 9 have been fully recovered, and 8 are still in the Rafah Field Hospital, a 38-bed hospital, 6 of which are in intensive care, created with the assistance of the World Health Organization.

We did not notice any symptoms with the affected cases, except for a slight rise in temperature for two cases. Without the laboratory examination, it would not have been discovered, and this is normal. There are 40% of people around the world who are at risk of contracting the virus and recovering from it without feeling it. The young age, and even the elderly are in good health and strong immunity, and it is not surprising that nine of them have recovered quickly.

Can we say that Gaza is safe?

In fact, the Ministry of Health procedures, and the precautionary measures that were taken, which included the closing of wedding halls, schools, universities, mosques, and social divergence, in addition to establishing quarantine centers, were factors that led to Gaza's success in maintaining society intact and not registering any internal situation, hence we appeal to The citizen is primarily to have individual responsibility and adherence to health tips and guidelines, to keep our internal society safe.

What is your assessment of the performance of the Palestinian Authority and the health situation in the West Bank?

I can say that the authority has taken a lot of strict measures to confront the virus, and the truth is that up to this point it has succeeded in making the infection curve down, and the numbers of cases discovered so far are simple and the medical device can deal with them and contain and treat them.

What is your role in coordinating the efforts between the three parties related to Gaza (Hamas, the Palestinian Authority and Israel) to overcome the repercussions of the blockade and division?

The work of the World Health Organization falls under the humanitarian relief deal, and this requires coordination between all parties, and the organization accordingly does not find it difficult to deal with everyone, we talk to the authority in Ramallah and we share statistics, information, shortcomings and needs, as well as in Gaza, and we coordinate to enter the materials And the needs from Ramallah to Gaza, if we were asked to do so, and also we are coordinating with the Israeli side for the exit of damaged medical devices to repair them, both in the West Bank and Jerusalem, and the truth since the emergence of the virus and in the framework of confronting it, we have not faced any challenges or obstacles in the introduction of materials and aid.

Do you follow the HIV cases among the 48 Palestinians inside Israel?

48 Palestinians follow the health system in Israel, and their statistics and everything related to them are included in Israeli statistics. As for East Jerusalem, the Palestinian Authority is trying to collect data and include it in the statistics of the West Bank, but it faces a challenge in determining the number of cases in Jerusalem due to its inability to access easily.

With the world preoccupied with the Corona pandemic, has international funding declined for the World Health Organization?

Despite the burdens of countries and their internal preoccupation with confronting the virus, we have not noticed an impact on the international funding of the organization until now, and we can say that the flow of funding is acceptable.

To what extent are you affected by Washington’s decision to stop funding the organization, and its implications for your work in the poorest regions, including the Palestinian territories?

As far as Palestine is concerned, American support has long since ceased, following the political tensions associated with the American peace plan or the so-called deal of the century, while developing and poor countries in the world depend on such funding, and we believe that it will be affected by the American decision, unless the deficit is met from funded countries. Others, to enable the World Health Organization to continue providing its services, and this effect will not appear immediately, but in the near future, and will have negative repercussions.