Dr. Jadallah Al-Shafi’i (center) says that the capabilities of Al-Shifa Hospital are much less than the population’s need (Al-Jazeera)
Gaza
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The staff of the Al-Shifa Medical Complex did not accept the will of the Israeli occupation, which seeks to turn Gaza into a city unfit for life by adopting policies of bombing, continuous massacres, starvation, disrupting basic services, and putting hospitals out of service, so they worked to restart the complex, even if “at a minimum.”
Dr. Jadallah Al-Shafi'i, Director of the Nursing Department at Al-Shifa Complex, during an interview with Al-Jazeera Net, reveals the efforts that have been made to restart it, with the aim of providing service to citizens who have suffered greatly during the past months from the absence of treatment.
In his interview, Al-Shafi’i touched on the effects that the hospital’s out of service had on the lives of residents.
He also recounts his testimony to the occupation army's siege and storming of the hospital last November, and the measures taken by the occupation to stop it from working, in addition to the danger of the "starvation policy" that it practices against the population.
Al-Shifa Complex suffers from a major shortage of medicines, medical consumables, and fuel (Al-Jazeera)
Can you tell us your testimony about the siege and storming of the hospital by the occupying army?
During the first days of the war, the hospital was working at full capacity, but its services began to diminish due to the major attack on Gaza, which was followed by the siege of the hospital, and thus the inability of medical personnel to attend. This was from 10 to 18 last November, until the occupation forces were forced All medical staff and patients have to leave.
The vehicles were approaching on November 10, and the occupation began storming the hospital from the basement of the specialized surgery building, which included displaced people and kidney patients, and they were abused.
There was a problem in the premature infants ward, which had 40 babies. We tried to coordinate with the International Committee of the Red Cross to transfer them to other hospitals, but unfortunately the coordination failed, which led to the death of many of them.
We could hear vandalism while we were in the hospital, as CT scan machines, MRI machines, medical laptops were destroyed, and doors were broken.
After we returned to the complex, we noticed the extent of the vandalism, as all the doors had been blown up and all the offices and patient rooms had been tampered with.
What caught your attention most about the occupation’s siege of the hospital?
We were trapped in the complex for 8 days without food or drink, and the water station was not working. If the siege had continued longer than that, we would have starved then, as is the case now.
It was a frightening and terrifying scene as we emerged from between the tanks and the soldiers were pointing their rifles at us while we raised our hands up.
Do you have information about the fate of hospital director Muhammad Abu Salamiya?
What is the purpose of his arrest?
First, we pray for a speedy relief for Dr. Muhammad Abu Salamiya, and I believe that his arrest was aimed at forcing him to make statements proving their story about the presence of military forces, tunnels, etc. inside the hospital, which has been conclusively proven to be false.
We heard that he is being brutally tortured to force him to state things that justify storming the compound, but he is steadfast, and we hope for his soon relief.
What is the impact of taking the hospital out of service and reducing its role on the health condition of citizens in various aspects?
Since the hospital includes all specialties, this means that all residents of the Gaza Strip benefit from its services, not just residents of Gaza City, and the first impact was on dialysis patients, as well as patients who were waiting for surgeries that had not been performed for 4 or 5 months, and also patients Cancers no longer have a place to be treated.
Likewise, heart patients. As a simple example, we used to perform 10 diagnostic and therapeutic catheterization operations per day, and within 4 months we did not perform this procedure. This means that those who suffer from strokes and angina may die as a result of the lack of treatment.
Many of the patients who were trapped inside Gaza neighborhoods either deteriorated in health or died, and when the war stops, we will have clearer data about this matter.
Also, the hospital was the only one providing kidney transplant service.
You returned to running the hospital. What motivated you to do so?
We had to operate the hospital, even if at a minimum, because we cannot see injured, martyrs, and patients in need of service, and stand idly by.
We had to start from scratch, rehabilitate the departments and provide services to the rest of our people in Gaza and the north.
Half of the workers at Al-Shifa Hospital are volunteers and are suffering as a result of the Israeli starvation policy (Al-Jazeera)
What is the reality of the hospital now?
After it used to employ two thousand medical employees, now the total number of employees working there is 500, half of whom are official employees, the other half are volunteers, and some of them are medical college students, meaning that half of the staff are volunteers who work from a standpoint of chivalry, Palestinian patriotism, and chivalry, and are exposed to dangers.
We now have a reception and emergency department, a dialysis department, and 3 residential departments containing 50 beds, but the number of patients is approximately 150 patients, in addition to operating an intensive care department, and out of a total of 40 beds in intensive care, we have activated only 7 beds.
Regarding dialysis, we do not provide a complete service. Normally, the patient receives 3 weekly sessions, each session lasting 4 hours. However, now, there are only two sessions for the patient and the duration of the session is 3 hours. Sometimes the service is postponed due to a power outage.
We also operated 3 operating rooms out of 20 rooms.
Regarding the devices, unfortunately most of them are out of service. Out of 3 CT scan machines, only one is working, after being repaired by the efforts of engineers and volunteers. There are two machines that are not working after they were disabled by the occupation, and the existing MRI machine is not working due to tampering with it by the occupation forces.
Some other devices, such as ultrasound, were repaired.
Out of 7 X-ray machines, only one works.
What about medications?
The scene is disastrous in terms of the severe shortage of medicines and medical consumables, as the occupation forces completely burned the stores of the Ministry of Health, and this caused a shortage of many supplies for work, and some private companies were sought, which opened their stores to us.
But there is a major shortage, especially of anesthesia drugs needed to operate operating rooms and to perform some specialties such as vascular surgery.
How do you deal with the wounded who arrive at the hospital almost daily?
The emergency department works primarily to provide first aid to the injured, using the available medical personnel.
We certainly cannot accommodate the huge number of injured people, especially with regard to the successive Israeli massacres in the Kuwait and Nabulsi roundabouts (the flour massacres), and many of the injured are martyred due to the inability of the medical teams to deal with everyone.
When I have 10 patients who need 10 operating rooms, and we have 3 rooms available (this is of course if sufficient medical staff are available), the rest of the wounded wait for hours until their turn arrives, and some of them are martyred.
Do you have problems providing blood units to the wounded?
Yes, the blood bank has become empty due to the consumption of many units of blood since the Great Flour Massacre in Nabulsi Roundabout (on February 29).
Many citizens come to donate blood, but they do not meet the criteria due to famine. For example, the donor’s hemoglobin level in the blood must be no less than 13, and we find that the majority are not like that, and now we are forced to accept the percentage of 11 and 12, and the blood bank has had no units for a week. There is enough blood, and many infected people die because they do not have enough blood units.
What about the maternity ward?
What is the impact of the occupation policy on the health of pregnant women?
At the beginning of last November, with the large number of wounded, the maternity ward was evacuated and transferred to small private hospitals, to provide beds for the wounded, and thus this service has been suspended until now in the hospital.
But without a doubt, this affected the health of pregnant women, because the hospital is the only one capable of dealing with dangerous births, and there have already been cases of death of women during childbirth in small private hospitals, because they are not qualified to receive dangerous births and lack the capabilities.
How does the hospital manage its electricity needs?
The complex relies entirely on electricity generators, and at full capacity needs between 8 and 10 thousand liters of fuel per day, but with the cessation of many services, and with the rationing of loads, the current consumption is one thousand liters per day.
Today, international institutions visiting the Gaza Strip provide us with some fuel as permitted by the occupation authorities, and during the past two weeks they brought us fuel, but after a week it will run out and if they do not bring us fuel, we will return to square one.
Dr. Jadallah Al-Shafi’i: I lost 20 kilograms of weight in 5 months (Al-Jazeera)
Do you receive cases of malnutrition due to the starvation policy?
What is its danger to the population?
In the beginning, the famine affected those with chronic diseases, but now it has affected everyone.
All citizens lost weight.
I personally lost 20 kilograms in 5 months.
The groups most affected are children, the elderly, and those with chronic diseases, who are more likely to die from complications of the disease.
Of course, there is a great danger to the population in general, and the starvation policy will have complications, such as kidney, liver, and blood vessel problems, strokes, and heart attacks.
Do you have capabilities to deal with cases of malnutrition?
Whoever comes to us, we provide him with an intravenous solution, but we do not have specialized nutritional solutions. There are solutions that include proteins, vitamins, and fats, and these are not available.
To what extent does the starvation policy affect medical teams?
Frankly, medical teams have exhausted their energy for weeks dealing with the almost daily massacres, especially since the major massacre in the Nabulsi roundabout and more recently in the Kuwait roundabout.
Since before Ramadan, the medical teams have been without meals, and now they are not provided with suhoor or breakfast meals except the minimum, which is a cup of soup, and thus their strength began to collapse, and yet they are still working, but we cannot guarantee how long they will continue. With this work.
Source: Al Jazeera