British Doctors: Deterioration of the health sector in Gaza threatens decades of diseases and malnutrition
Gaza – Al-Khabar Al-Yemeni:
British doctors expressed deep concern over the long-term implications of the destruction of hospitals and the health sector in Gaza and the targeting of medical personnel, warning that diseases, malnutrition, and lack of healthcare may continue for decades.
According to the British newspaper “The Guardian,” forecasts indicate that the total deaths resulting from the war may reach 186,000, which is four times the number of martyrs announced by the Ministry of Health in Gaza.
Professor Ghassan Abu Sittah, the Palestinian British plastic surgeon who has been working in Gaza hospitals since the start of the war, said that the levels of malnutrition there “were so severe that many children will never recover.”
He warned that the suffering of Palestinians will continue due to infectious diseases and the ongoing destruction of the health infrastructure.
For his part, retired British surgeon Professor Nizam Mahmoud, who worked at Nasser Hospital in Gaza, estimated that the number of “non-trauma deaths” may be much higher than 186,000, due to the targeting of medical workers and the destruction of entire medical teams.
He pointed out that out of six vascular surgeons who were covering the northern part of the Strip, only one remained, and that there were no cancer specialists left alive.
He confirmed that “entire teams of medical specialists have been wiped out in Gaza,” and that the required training to replace them will take up to 10 years.