Aid workers in Gaza Strip hospitals cannot use morphine or painkillers to treat civilians as Israel’s siege of the enclave depletes essential medical supplies amid persistent shelling, an NGO official said on Monday (23 ).
“What is extremely important are the trauma kits, the surgery kits,” said Leo Cans, head of the Doctors Without Borders mission in Jerusalem.
Doctors were “performing surgical operations without the correct dose of narcotics, without the correct dose of morphine,” Cans told Max Foster of CNN .
“In terms of pain control, that’s not happening. We currently have people undergoing surgery without morphine. It happened to two children.”
We have many children who are unfortunately among the injured, and I was talking to one of our surgeons, who yesterday treated a 10-year-old boy, burned on 60% of his body surface, and he ended up having no painkillers.
“There is no justification for preventing these essential medicines from reaching the population,” Cans added.
UN experts said last week that Israel’s “inexpressibly cruel” blockade of Gaza violates international and criminal law.
Cans also acknowledged the reports from CNN about parents who had to write their children’s names on their arms and legs to identify them if the children or themselves were killed.
Colleagues told him that families slept in the same room because “they want to live together or die together,” he said.
Health professionals also noted the impact that fuel shortages have on the functioning of hospitals and water supplies.
“Fuel is essential for water treatment plants to desalinate water. If we don’t have fuel, we don’t have quality water,” he said, adding that many residents of the Gaza Strip now drink untreated water, which causes outbreaks of diarrhea.
He also called for an end to “indiscriminate bombing.”
“Even war has rules and you cannot bomb civilians. We have many children, many women arriving at the hospital. It is not acceptable.”
See also: Rafah crossing opens and first convoy does not take fuel to Gaza
With information from Rhea Mogul and Christian Edwards
Source: CNN Brasil
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