Cancer patients in Gaza…double pain
For long and difficult weeks, Swat Hamdan (52 years old), a resident of the Jabaliya camp in the northern Gaza Strip, struggled with death in his home while his family tried to find a hospital in Gaza that specialized in caring for cancer patients. Strip or out of it, she's of no use until she dies. Joint Pain: Pain from a malignant disease, and more pain from war.
Since before the Israeli war that began last October, the Gaza Strip has suffered from a lack of a dedicated hospital to treat cancer patients. They are forced to seek medical referrals to hospitals outside the Gaza Strip (West Bank or Israel), but with the ongoing war, patients have no choice but to face death without treatment.
Hamdan is one of dozens of cancer victims since the war on Gaza, while other cases are still fighting death.
Hamdan's son Hossam said his mother succumbed to the disease. He added to Asharq al-Awsad: “Watching your mother suffer this pain every day is more difficult than death, and you cannot do anything (to relieve her).” He continued: “Her pain was doubled.” She was not killed by the missile. She died slow and hard. We tried everything. No hospitals, no medical care, no transfers, nothing (can be done). “You must wait for death.”
Since the beginning of the war, Hosam has tried to coordinate with the Ministry of Health and international and relief organizations to relocate his mother abroad, but to no avail. She then tried to transfer to hospitals in at least the south of the Gaza Strip to receive normal medical care, but to no avail until her death.
There is no exact number of cancer patients in the Gaza Strip, but the numbers provided by the relevant authorities speak of about 2,000 patients, hundreds of whom are subject to starvation and deprivation war in parts of the northern Gaza Strip. Food and drugs.
Medical sources told Asharq Al-Awsat that at least 57 cancer patients died in the first three months of the war because they did not receive the required dose of medicine.
Among them was a young woman, Hadeel Hussein, who lives in the Sheikh Ratwan neighborhood north of Gaza City, and told her brother, Ahmed Asharq al-Awsad, that she fought to the death for two weeks until she surrendered in November. the soul
Before the war, Hadeel had to be treated abroad and his health was promising.
Like Hadeel, death threatens many children receiving partial treatment at Al-Rantisi Oncology Hospital, designated to provide medical services to children with cancer, which Israeli forces attacked and destroyed parts of.
Dr. Ashraf Al-Qutra, spokesman for the Ministry of Health in Gaza, told Asharq Al-Awsad that hundreds of patients suffering from various diseases in the northern Gaza Strip are facing a slow death due to denial of treatment, along with cancer patients. Targeting hospitals and preventing drug entry.
Al-Qudra confirmed that the health system has efforts to evacuate cancer patients and transfer them abroad for treatment.
He added: “There are 60 injured people who have left the Gaza Strip for Turkey and many other countries, including the Emirates, but the biggest problem is those still in the Northern Territory.”
Patients who left Gaza were displaced from residential areas in the north at the beginning of the war.
One of the survivors is baby Aziel Karam, who is being treated at a hospital in Turkey.
Her mother said her 12-year-old daughter survived three times; The first time was when she fled before the storming of “Al-Rantisi Oncology Hospital”, the second was when she ran away from certain deaths at her home in the beach camp, a few days after she ran away from the hospital. It left the Gaza Strip and headed for Turkey.
Aseel, who is suffering from leukemia, is being treated in an Istanbul hospital today. Her mother confirmed to Asharq al-Awsad that she was improving, which would not have happened if she had stayed in Gaza.
Turkey, the United Arab Emirates and several other countries have announced their willingness to accommodate many cancer patients and their families in Gaza, but occupation forces have prevented hundreds from leaving.
