STORY: 1,100 Gazan kidney patients facing drug shortage: ministry
DATELINE: Sept. 21, 2023
LENGTH: 00:03:12
LOCATION: GAZA, Palestine
CATEGORY: SOCIETY

SHOTLIST:
1. various of Health Ministry in Gaza
2. SOUNDBITE 1 (Arabic): ASHRAF ABU MAHDI, Director of the pharmacy department in the Health Ministry
3. various of the hospital of Abdul Aziz Al-Rantisi in Gaza
4. SOUNDBITE 2 (Arabic): AHMED ABU SHARIAA, Father of a child with kidney failure
5. various of the hospital of Abdul Aziz Al-Rantisi in Gaza

STORYLINE:

At least 1,100 Palestinian kidney patients are facing a lack of medicines and medical equipment in Gaza, the Hamas-run Health Ministry said on Wednesday.

In a press conference held in the coastal enclave, Ashraf Abu Mahdi, director of the pharmacy department in the Health Ministry, said the patients include 38 children who are in danger of being denied access to dialysis sessions.

SOUNDBITE 1 (Arabic): ASHRAF ABU MAHDI, Director of the pharmacy department in the Health Ministry
"Kidney failure patients face difficult days that may end with the complete cessation of the dialysis service. Today we stand before you to convey to the whole world the cries of pain suffered by dialysis patients. This is one of the seasons of suffering due to the lack of medicines and medical equipment needed to treat them, and this may not give kidney failure patients more time."

Abu Mahdi indicated that stores run by the ministry in Gaza are short of related medical supplies, and the hospitals in Gaza provide 13,000 dialysis sessions for patients per month.

He accused Israel of "banning the transport and shipment of medical supplies to the hospitals of the coastal enclave, putting the lives of thousands of kidney patients at risk."

SOUNDBITE 2 (Arabic): AHMED ABU SHARIAA, Father of a child with kidney failure
"Medicines are not available in hospitals. From one month to the next, they tell us to get it because there is none. Therefore, we have to buy it from pharmacies, but the medicines are also not available in pharmacies. Therefore, we are forced to buy it from outside the Gaza Strip, through Egypt, for example, but its price is very high. In addition, there is no special equipment for dialysis for children in the hospital. I have tried a lot to obtain a permit to reach Israeli hospitals, but that will be stressful for my child, whether going or returning."

Israel has imposed a tight blockade on the Gaza Strip, home to more than 2 million people, since the Hamas movement seized control of the enclave in 2007.

Xinhua News Agency correspondents reporting from Gaza, Palestine.
(XHTV)