“We disinfect wounds with vinegar”: this is how medical staff work in Gaza hospitals

Without drinking water, without electricity, without anesthesia, without fuel. The hospitals of the Gaza Strip They are on the verge of total collapse, to the point that doctors must choose every day who lives and who dies, operate without anesthesia and work endless shifts. All this in the midst of the incessant bombings by Israel and the fighting that is taking place in the center of the Palestinian enclave.

David Cantero Pérezgeneral coordinator of Doctors without borders in the Occupied Palestinian Territories, spoke to journalists via Zoom from his office in Jerusalemto tell the harsh reality that exists in Loop since October 7, the day on which the Islamist group Hamas attacked Israel and killed about 1,400 people, and in retaliation the Israeli army began to bomb Palestinian territorywhich has left more than 10,000 dead.

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“What we are experiencing is a sad and historic moment. We are seeing firsthand a humanitarian catastrophe which is unprecedented in the region. It is difficult to find the words and adjectives to describe what is happening in the Gaza Strip. But the situation inside is terrifying, terrifying, catastrophic,” Cantero said.

To graph what is experienced, David Cantero he said that a doctor had to perform an amputation on a child on the floor, with partial sedation due to the lack of anesthesia, and in front of his mother and sister. “This situation clearly describes how hospitals are, working at their limit, on the verge of collapse, with staff working impossible shifts and almost without rest.”

He also spoke of a completely burned child who was almost completely bandaged and the doctors had to change his bandages, but they could not give him any type of painkiller to remove that bandage. “So, the situation is Dantesque, I don’t think there is another word that better defines what is happening in the Gaza hospitals“, said Stonecutter.

He indicated that Hospitals “have run out of painkillers, sedation is being done partially.”. And the latest testimonies that reached us are that wounds were disinfected with vinegar”, he narrated.

He added that the staff is insufficient, exhausted, overwhelmed by the daily tragedy in Loop.

Fuel runs out and vital machines have to be shut down

Two days after the start of the bombings, on October 9 Israel ordered total blockade of Gazaso from that day on the water and electricity were cut off, and the entry of food and fuel was prevented.

He fuel It is vital for hospitals to operate at maximum capacity, but they are running out of fuel, so at least 14 have already closed and the other 21 are resorting to extreme measures to avoid running out.

Stonecutter He said that in the hospitals where he has a presence Doctors without borders there are minimum fuel stocks.

He also explained that two of those hospitals where they support, Al Shifa and Indonesian turned off their main generatorsso they are operating with secondary emergency generators, which have a lower capacity and, therefore, some vital machines must be shut down.

The hospitals They have asked people to donate their fuel stocks left in their homes.

“Hospitals are rationing both electricity and medicines. “They have told us that they have had to choose between turning off certain respirators and incubators, they have had to ration electricity consumption by turning off machines,” he said. Stonecutter.

He insisted that If there is no fuel in Gaza, the desalination plants do not operate, meaning there is no drinking water. If there is no fuel, hospitals will stop working. “All people who need machine assistance are in imminent dangerwe are talking about people connected to respirators in ICUs, neonates in incubators, They will all die in a matter of minutes in their beds”, he indicated.

“Water, food, medicine and fuel have to come in. Until now it is true that trucks have entered, but we are counting them in dozens a day, in a normal situation between 300 and 500 trucks a day entered Gaza,” said the representative of Doctors without borders.

“1,000 children die per week”

Doctors without borders is demanding an immediate, lasting and unconditional ceasefire.

“This indiscriminate killing of the civilian population must stop. We have already passed the barrier of 4,000 children murdered in four weeks, that means that 1,000 children have been murdered per week. We are talking about more than 25,000 injured, it is massive, there is no medical system that can withstand this influx of injured,” said Cantero.

“Also We ask that the massive entry of humanitarian aid be allowed without any restrictions. The collective punishment to which the population of Loop it has to stop. “It is inconceivable,” he continued.

He recalled that the Gaza Strip It has been suffering a total blockade by air, sea and land for 16 years and until before the current conflict, between 70% and 80% of its population already lived below the poverty linewhich is why most people already depended on external help.

Stonecutter He asked that the civilian population, health personnel and ambulances be protected, under the parameters contemplated by international humanitarian law. “Sadly, it’s not happening,” he said.

He added that more than 100 health structures have been attacked. As a result, more than 150 health workers have been killed, and dozens of ambulances have been targets of attacks.

The Spanish anesthetist who was taken from Gaza

Raul IncertisSpanish anesthetist Doctors without bordershe said that he came to Loop on October 1 with the mission of working in orthopedics and reconstructive surgery at Al Awda hospital, in the north of the strip.

Their job was to try to fix the legs of Gazan men who came to the wall daily to throw stones across the border, and the soldiers responded by shooting them in the ankles with special bullets to generate the greatest type of damage. He did five to six surgeries a day, he said.

But once the bombings began, and as did a large part of the population of Loop, followed the orders of the Israeli army and was forced to go south. After more than 20 days, he was able to be removed from Loopalong with all the international staff of Doctors without borders who was not trained to respond to emergencies.

He said that in the hospitals of Loop there are many Palestinian workers left Doctors without borders. The majority had to go south and settle with their families in displaced persons camps.

He recalled that the emergency is so great that workers from Doctors without borders They took material from the NGO’s warehouses to distribute them to different hospitals, and these ran out in three days, when it was initially thought that they would last three weeks.

Cantero confirmed that Doctors without borders is looking for its international emergency personnel to enter Loop, but they can’t do it. “They have been in Cairo for weeks and have not been able to enter, which is why we are asking that specialized personnel be allowed in to support the Palestinian personnel who are still inside.”

When asked if it is true that Hamas has a presence in hospitals and uses them militarily, as he claims IsraelCantero said that Doctors without borders He has been working in Gaza since the late 80s, and the only thing they have seen in these places is patients, machines, and medicines. “We cannot make any further comments, we work on the surface. “We have seen thousands and thousands of critically injured and dead.”

“There are more than 2 million people trapped in an inhumane cage that is Loop At this moment, and I think this situation had never existed, this total blockade of people inside and out,” Cantero concluded.