This is Gaza!
These are not rare tragedies. They are the consequences of a healthcare system pushed far beyond its limits, where ilness is compounded by the absence of the most basic resources needed to care for human life. This is Gaza!
From today's shift.
Preventable causes of extreme suffering that unfold every day in emergency departments across
Gaza, amid a war against human well-being and human lives.
A 54-year-old man was brought in gasping for breath. He had severe fluid
accumulation in his lungs. His relatives said it had taken thema very long time to reach the hospital because there was no transportation available. The team did its best to resuscitate him, but he remains in critical condition.
Another patient, an elderly woman, arrived short of breath due to fluid accumulation in her lungs. She could barely speak when she told me that her condition had likely deteriorated because she had been unable to obtain her medications.
A 76-year-old woman came in with severe chest pain following intense emotional stress. She was having a heart attack, anda portion of her heart was literally dying. She had waited months for medical evacuation and had recently returned to Gaza because being away from her family had become unbearable. The emotional distress had literally shuttered her heart.
A middle-aged man was brought in after being struck by a bicycle while walking along a dark street with no lighting. He suffered a fracture of the neck of the femur. Too many children also arrived with signs of traumatic brain injuries, yet we were unable to perform CT scans of their heads. It took us far too long, two days ago, to get a CT scan of my cousin's brain after he sustained a traumatic brain injury.
A young woman was brought in after ingesting an organophosphorus compound, a highly toxic substance that can be life threatening. She had been trying to end her life, but instead endured a painful and dangerous ordeal.
A young man was carried in after taking an overdose of tablets, also attempting to end his life after becoming overwhelmed by his circumstances and the suffering around him.
A middle-aged woman came in, as she often does, complaining of shortness of breath, severe abdominal discomfort, and distension. She suffers from advanced breast cancer that has metastasized throughout her body. Fluid continuously accumulates in her abdomen and lungs, and she has a collapsed lung. Every time she comes, we struggle to find the pain medication she needs.
Patients of all ages were brought in unconscious after experiencing severe panic attacks and emotional breakdowns. Their families were terrified and repeatedly asked for reassurance that their loved ones would be okay.
Two young men had gotten into a fight. One sustained multiple gunshot wounds to the abdomen and arm, while the other was stabbed in the chest. Both suffered life-threatening internal bleeding involving the abdomen and chest, and both required emergency surgery to save their lives.
An elderly woman with pulmonary fibrosis, dependent on home oxygen to maintain adequate oxygen levels, arrived struggling to breathe and in severe distress. Her son explained that her oxygen cylinder had run empty. Later, he asked when it would be possible to refill it, as Oxygen supplies had become scarce.
Too many patients arrived with dangerously abnormal blood sugar levels. Yet we lacked even the most basic tools needed to diagnose and treat life threatening conditions: glucometer strips to measure blood glucose, laboratory testing for serum electrolytes, and blood gas analysis.
