In an exclusive interview with THE WEEK, Farhat Mantoo, Executive Director for Médecins Sans Frontières / Doctors without Borders (MSF) South Asia, and Sana Beg, Director of Communications for MSF, South Asia talk about the health crisis in Gaza.
Excerpts:
How many MSF personnel remain in Gaza?
Farhat Mantoo: We have over 300 MSF staff members in Gaza, but it is currently difficult to verify the situation of all our colleagues. Due to the relentless bombing, we are unable to coordinate activities and run our projects as we did before the ongoing crisis. Many of our Palestinian colleagues still work in the healthcare facilities we supported before October 7, and we are doing our best to support them. We rely on their feedback to assess the needs and anticipate if/how we may provide additional support. In the first days of the attacks on Gaza, MSF was running a standalone clinic, and supporting Al-Awda hospital, Nasser hospital, and the Indonesian hospital in Gaza. MSF also ran an operational theatre in Al-Shifa hospital to receive burn and trauma patients. We also made a large donation of medical stock, including medicines, narcotics and medical equipment to Al Shifa hospital, the main surgical facility in Gaza.
With supplies/water/electricity cut off, what are the major challenges while treating the injured?
Farhat Mantoo: Hospitals are running out of fuel and electricity. Diagnostic tools and life-saving support machines like ventilators, dialysis machines and other intensive care unit (ICU) instruments rely on fuel for their generators to keep functioning, and some only have enough for a few days. We treat burn and trauma victims and many of them need post-surgical care. We are extremely worried about the fate of those who will not be able to move, such as the wounded, the sick and the medical staff. Patients in hospitals cannot be safely relocated. People have been killed while evacuating, including family members of MSF staff. We are also seeing shortage of water and it is getting worse by the hour. Tap water is out of service and there is none in the shops. Our staff have been struggling to arrange drinking water for our teams. No safe drinking water will mean that populations will resort to unclean water for survival which can lead to diarrhoeal diseases.
What is the status of medical supplies? As they stand, how long are these likely to last?
Farhat Mantoo: There is a lack of medications and medical supplies across hospitals in Gaza. Earlier, we were in a position where three weeks’ worth of medicine stock was over in three days. Our emergency stocks on the ground are limited and will run out quickly if we cannot bring in more medical equipment and medicines. On Sunday, October 29, we sent 26 tonnes of medical supplies on a World Health Organisation plane to Egypt, under the coordination of the Egyptian Red Crescent, to support the emergency medical response in Gaza. It is the first MSF shipment arriving in Egypt from abroad. These medical supplies consist of emergency room medications, trauma kits, non-communicable diseases drugs, and other vital medicines. The supplies can cover the needs for 800 surgical interventions and around 20,000 outpatient consultations. We need this delivery to happen as soon as possible. However, with the high number of injured people arriving at hospitals across Gaza and the acute gaps, this quantity of supplies can only cover a few days. We are ready to increase our aid capacity in Gaza, so we continue to work on preparing more medical and humanitarian supplies to be sent to Gaza as soon as the situation allows it.
Are there any measures in place to ensure the safety of health care and humanitarian aid providers?
Sana Beg: MSF staff, including medical personnel, have been extremely restricted in their movements. They are unable to obtain safe passage to support Palestinian medical colleagues working day and night to treat the injured. People playing no role in the hostilities do not have a safe haven to go to. Any kind of movement is extremely dangerous. We do not use ambulances as several of them have been struck already and it is not safe to transfer patients. MSF has called for an immediate ceasefire that will spare the lives of Gazans and restore the flow of humanitarian assistance on which the survival of the population of Gaza depends. There needs to be protection of civilians and healthcare facilities on both sides, at all times. Actions taken by world leaders are too weak and too slow. The UN General Assembly resolution calling for a humanitarian truce has done nothing so far to rein in the widespread and indiscriminate violence against civilians in Gaza. The international community must take stronger action to stop the bloodshed.
What are the most critical supplies needed at the moment?
Sana Beg: In Al-Shifa Hospital, Gaza’s main surgical hospital, the very few remaining members of our team reported a shortage in painkillers; they heard wounded patients screaming in pain. There are surgeries being performed without anaesthesia. Medication stock is draining even in private pharmacies. With primary healthcare centres closed or not operational, chronic patients will suffer, and will soon start having complications that will affect their lives. With dwindling supplies of safe food, clean water, and health services, and without adequate shelter, children and adults, including the elderly, will all be at heightened risk of disease. This siege leaves no respite for patients caught up in the fighting or for medical staff. It represents an intentional block on life-saving items. The entry of these supplies and key medical staff must be facilitated urgently.