On Dec 16, a joint UN mission, featuring World Health Organization (WHO) staff along with United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), United Nations Department of Safety and Security (UNDSS), and United Nations Mine Action Service (UNMAS), was undertaken to Al-Shifa Hospital in north Gaza.
The primary objective was to deliver essential health supplies and assess the precarious situation within the facility. The mission provided crucial medicines, surgical supplies, orthopedic surgery equipment, and anesthesia materials to address the urgent needs of the hospital.
Al-Shifa Hospital, once the largest and most vital referral hospital in Gaza, is currently operating at a minimal capacity. The hospital, now staffed by only a few doctors, nurses, and 70 volunteers, faces unimaginably challenging circumstances.
The lack of fuel, oxygen, specialized medical staff, and supplies has rendered major services, including operating theaters, nonfunctional.
The hospital can currently only offer basic trauma stabilization, lacks blood for transfusions, and struggles to manage the constant influx of patients.
Dialysis, a life-saving procedure, is being provided to approximately 30 patients daily, with machines operating around the clock using a small generator.
The emergency department paints a distressing picture, described as a “bloodbath” with hundreds of injured patients, limited pain management, and critical patients being transferred to Al-Ahli Arab Hospital for surgeries.
The hospital building and grounds are accommodating tens of thousands of displaced people, creating an urgent need for a comprehensive humanitarian response to provide food, water, and shelter.
Al-Shifa Hospital continues to grapple with severe shortages of food and safe water, raising concerns about persistent hunger across Gaza and its consequences on health and susceptibility to infectious diseases.
The WHO is committed to strengthening Al-Shifa Hospital in the coming weeks, aiming to restore at least basic functionality and deliver life-saving services.
To activate up to 20 operating theaters and post-operative care services, the hospital requires a consistent supply of fuel, oxygen, medicines, food, and water.
Urgent needs include additional specialized medical, nursing, and support staff, as well as emergency medical teams. Currently, Al-Ahli Arab Hospital is the only partially functional hospital in north Gaza, alongside three minimally functional hospitals – Al-Shifa, Al Awda, and Al Sahaba Medical Complex, a stark decline from the 24 hospitals before the conflict.
As hostilities persist and health needs escalate across Gaza, the restoration of Al-Shifa Hospital is crucial. It stands as a cornerstone of Gaza’s health system and must be urgently revitalized to serve a population trapped in a distressing cycle of death, destruction, hunger, and disease.
The WHO is also closely monitoring the unfolding situation at Kamal Adwan Hospital with grave concern, gathering information urgently to address the escalating health crisis.
