Gaza Medical evacuations: WHO

The World Health Organization (WHO) said on Tuesday that it had completed a second evacuation mission from Gaza's Nasser Hospital, transferring a total of 32 critical patients from the site despite access restrictions, amid ongoing hostilities.

“Together on those two missions, on Sunday and yesterday, there were 32 critical patients, including two children, that have been transferred to two other hospitals in southern Gaza,” said WHO spokesperson Tarik Jasarevic, briefing journalists at the UN in Geneva.

The two life-saving missions were conducted in close partnership with the Palestine Red Crescent Society (PRCS) and the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA). The team also provided limited supplies of essential medicines and food for the remaining patients and staff who are otherwise cut off from aid.

“An estimated 130 sick and injured patients, and at least 15 doctors and nurses, remain inside the hospital as the intensive care unit was no longer functioning,” said Mr. Jasarevic. “WHO staff transferred only remaining ICU patients to a different part of the complex where other patients are receiving basic care.”

The transfer of patients was requested by the Nasser hospital staff after the facility became non-functional following a military raid on 14 February, at the end of a week-long siege. Weak and frail patients were transferred amidst active conflict near the aid convoy. Road conditions hindered the swift movement of ambulances, placing the health of patients at further risk.

“No electricity and there is also no running water -- and medical waste and garbage are creating a breeding ground for diseases,” reported WHO’s spokesperson. “WHO staff said the destruction around the hospital was difficult to describe. The area was surrounded by burnt and destroyed building, heavy layers of debris with no stretch of intact roads,” Mr. Jasarevic added.

Efforts to facilitate further patient referrals amidst the ongoing hostilities are ongoing. Prior to the recent evacuation missions, WHO had received two consecutive denials to access the Nasser Medical Complex for medical assessment, causing delays in urgently needed patient referral. At least five patients are reported to have died in the Intensive Care Unit before any missions or transfers were possible.

“Ideally, what we would like to see is to have (the) hospital rebuilt, have health workers be back, have fuel, food and health supplies being brought back to Nasser and other hospitals,” Mr. Jasarevic said. “So a health system can be rebuilt, and then health workers can have a place to work, and then people would have a place to go and get their health services, ideally.”

Gaza Medical evacuations: WHO

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