January 14th 2009
Maternal health in Gaza is currently in disarray as Hatem Shurrab, an aid worker with Islamic Relief, reports. (To read Hatem’s previous reports see here and here)
Gaza is a densely populated area, with 1.5 million people squeezed into a small piece of land. This is one of the reasons why the attacks have done so much damage and why there have been such high levels of casualties. The population of Gaza is very young, and the birth rate quite high. Every day around 200 babies are born in Gaza; that is 3,400 new lives brought into this world since the conflict started.Yet the healthcare system in Gaza is in disarray and there is little medical support available for pregnant women or their new-born babies. Most delivery rooms and operating theatres which had been used for caesarean sections at Gaza’s hospitals are now being used to treat those injured in the attacks. On top of this women no longer have any access to ante-natal care because there aren’t enough health staff and because there is no electricity with which to run the ultrasound machines.Presently women are only giving birth in hospital in critical cases, and even then only if they can make the journey. There have been no caesarean sections since the conflict started. Few women are now able to travel to hospital to give birth as ambulances are unable to reach them. This means that many are giving birth at home without any medical support, and often only with the assistance of their relatives or neighbours. This is putting their lives and the lives of their babies at risk.The radio stations in Gaza are now broadcasting messages from people who need medical assistance or an ambulance. Many of the messages that are being broadcast are from frantic husbands whose wives have gone into labour and who are experiencing difficulties. But the ongoing violence means there is no way to reach them and nothing anyone can do. I don’t know what happened to these women and their new-born babies, but I pray they are still safe. Many of those injured in the attacks have also been pregnant women. At the Al Shifa hospital I met a 35-year-old woman from Beit Lahiya, in the north of the Gaza Strip. She was eight months pregnant and had been severely injured when her house was struck by a missile two days ago. Unfortunately her injuries were so serious that her leg had to be amputated and she also had to have a caesarean to save her baby. Thankfully, her son survived but she is still in intensive care.
Hatem Shurrab
Islamic Relief
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January 14th, 2009 at 8:44 pm
Hi all my distinguished coleagues,
The only thing that I can say” THIS IS NON HUMAN”. All of us shall be responsiple – to some extent- for destruction of Gaza and kiling palestinian ,regardless religion ,sex ,race or ethnicity,,,,
Good save Gaza people.
Peace for every body in the world.
Dr. Elmor
January 14th, 2009 at 11:50 pm
this is a horrible situation in Gaza. I am still so suprised that Hamas could put so many of its citizens in harms way by using them as political capital and hiding behind the skirts of women and children and allowing the conflict to continue with the incessant firing off of rockets that were a thorn in Israel. It is also amazing that Egypt and other countries could not offer any rescue and setting up temporary safety camps away from harms way to get the women and children away from the conflict. War is horrible in any situation, it is pathetic that Hamas and Israel have been unable to come to a peaceful settlement over many years. Hamas and Israel are playing a deadly game of “chicken” the first one to say “I give up- looses”. The real loosers in this war are the innocent women and children in Gaza.
January 15th, 2009 at 1:09 am
It is very sad that Israeli officials instead of stopping CRIMES against HUMANITY,as usual (like their CRIME PARTNER G W Bush) blame The LANCET & its excellent PUBLICATIONS of Facts by the HUMANE NORWEGIAN MDs.
Shame on Ehud barak for CRIMES against HUMANITY.
Wonderful job by Staff at THE LANCET
Many Thanks
January 15th, 2009 at 5:42 am
The actions of the Israeli military and their leaders represent grave violations of international law. All physicians should raise their objections to the indiscriminate and wanton disregard for life exhibited by the israeli military. Our thoughts are with the dispossessed people of Gaza.
January 15th, 2009 at 4:11 pm
It is extremely aggravating, to hear all the critics against the norwegian doctors who told their stories, that their stories about the hordes of people being killed or gravely injured, were politically red, (socialist) coloured, while the only colour, a doctor might bring to a story, is red because of all the blood.
There are a few extreme Israel-supporters in Norway, including the far right party (FrP) who don’t like those two norwegian doctors who made those reports, however most norwegian people, just like the well known and respected medical magazine Lancet, have done the only correct thing, stood behind these doctors and their really worrisome reports.
Most critics have said that the doctors ‘weren’t supposed to report, since they aren’t journalists, however Israel has denied journalists access to Gaza, and they’re of course then, to blame about the in theory possible situation of slanted reports being given out.
Seems like the Jews and their supporters, have been trapped into a collective paranoia, that any and all critisism, is the same as antisemitism, this is very dangerous, mostly to Israel, which unncessarily provokes hundreds of millions of muslims, from which a certain number, are really capable of extreme forms of revenge. Which of course is the problem with the religions from the middle east – they’re based upon the torah and koran, while Israel-supporting christian fundamentalists, in practice lives by the old testament in the bible, which gives much fhe same message about revenge and extreme punishment, as the torah and koran.
Norway has repeatedly participated in negotiating between Israel and the palestinian refugees, however have failed, even after doing really good efforts to achieve a two-state solution.
This time, all diplomatic means of stopping Israel from bombing civilians in Gaza, have been exhausted, so it it really looks bad for the Palestinians, and eventuelly Israel, if all the other muslims decide to revenge what could be a mass murder on the people in Gaza.
One thing which sickens me, is that the Israeli government has let those Hamas-rockets, over a long period, rain over their land and keeping their own population in terror, instead of dealing with each and one rocket with advanced anti missile systems, battle helicopters, drones or whatever means you can use to shoot back, at the place from where the rockets originated.
Not that that would be a supportable or anything like nice solution, however it would not be as catastrophic path of destruction, as Israel has chosen now, charigng up to a giant revenge war, after having not defended their own population against those rockets for several years.
Seems to me like the israeli government and millitary is as psychopatic in their way of operation, as Hamas is.