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Muhammad Khader searches in Rafah pharmacies in the southern Gaza Strip for medicines for his father and sister, but he faces extreme difficulty in finding them amid a severe shortage in the Strip due to the Israeli aggression that has been ongoing for months.

The young man who was displaced to Rafah from Jabalia in the northern Gaza Strip told Agence France-Presse, “This is the fifth pharmacy I searched for,” explaining, “I only found one of the three types (medications) prescribed by the doctor. (My father) has a perforated eardrum due to the bombing, and he suffers every time.” the time".

He added, "My sister suffers from chronic lupus erythematosus and needs 4 types of treatment, but only one type is available. Her health condition is severely deteriorating and she is in severe pain and we cannot do anything."

The Ministry of Health in Gaza warned this week of “a shortage of medicines and medical consumables and a shortage of primary care items of more than 60% of the basic list of primary care medications.”

The Ministry indicated that there are 350,000 people suffering from chronic diseases without medication, warning of “serious health complications for patients.”

In his pharmacy in Rafah, pharmacist Muhammad Sahwil says that what is happening is “a catastrophic period,” explaining, “Not all types of medicine are available, especially for chronic diseases such as heart, high blood pressure, diabetes, and cancer (..) and there is a shortage of medicines for children, antibiotics, and even painkillers.”

He confirms, "Even alternative medicines that might help in some cases ran out several months ago."

Spread of diseases

In another pharmacy, pharmacist Abdul Hadi Dhair apologizes to a man asking him about several types of medications for Parkinson's disease, while a woman leaves frustrated because she did not find a medication.

Dhair told Agence France-Presse, "The need for medicine has reached its peak, especially with the spread of diseases and epidemics due to overcrowding, malnutrition, and living conditions."

He points out that many people come and "suffer from symptoms of hepatitis C, which is dangerous, but we feel helpless, as there are no medications and we cannot intervene without doctors' guidance. Even the alternatives to medications have run out."

About 1.4 million Palestinians, i.e. more than half of the population of Gaza, are crowded in Rafah, amid desperate humanitarian and living conditions and a great risk of the spread of diseases, according to the United Nations.

The Gaza Strip has been subject to an Israeli siege since 2007, and this siege has become tight since the start of the Israeli aggression on the Gaza Strip after October 7, 2023.

The Ministry of Health in Gaza warned that the crowding of displaced people in the cold “increased the spread of respiratory, skin and other infectious diseases,” including hepatitis A.

In the west of the city of Rafah, more than two hundred people stand in line in front of the Kuwaiti Hospital pharmacy, waiting for their turn, carrying prescriptions, hoping to obtain the required medications.

Jihan Al-Quqa, a displaced person from Khan Yunis, who came early in the morning, complains, "We stand for hours to get a pill. They give us a painkiller pill. There are no antibiotics or treatments. The children are sick and the elderly."

She explains, "My husband suffers from high blood pressure and diabetes, and his leg is swollen, but we cannot get medicine for him. Doctors say he has a blockage in the veins because he did not take his medicine."

Abdullah Al-Hajj, whose leg was amputated, sits in a wheelchair and says with a sigh, “There is no pharmacy in Rafah that has painkillers to sleep at night.”

Months after the Israeli aggression, the health system appears to have collapsed in the Gaza Strip. The United Nations reports that there are no hospitals operating at full operational capacity in Gaza, while only 13 medical facilities out of 36 across the Strip operate at limited capacity.

Amputations

The World Health Organization warned on Wednesday that hospitals in Gaza lack “adequate supplies.”

Doctors are forced to perform amputations due to the lack of means to treat patients and save their limbs, according to the local representative of the World Health Organization, Dr. Rick Pepperkorn from Gaza.

Nabil Al-Othmani (60 years old) comes every day to ask about the medicine he needs for epilepsy, but to no avail. “They tell me that he is not available at all,” the man explains, trying to hold back the tears that are falling.

Muhammad Yaghi, a displaced person from Gaza City, points out, "We are dying slowly... due to the lack of medicines and treatments inside the city of Rafah."

Source: Al Jazeera + French