On the occasion of World Cancer Day, the Palestinian Ministry of Health appealed on Sunday to the international community and human rights organizations to redouble efforts to enhance diagnostic and treatment services for cancer patients in the Gaza Strip.
On Sunday, the Palestinian Ministry of Health appealed to the international community and human rights organizations to redouble efforts to enhance diagnostic and treatment services for cancer patients in the Gaza Strip.
This came during a press conference held by the Ministry at the Turkish-Palestinian Friendship Hospital on the occasion of World Cancer Day, corresponding to February 4 of each year.
In his speech during the conference, Assistant Undersecretary of the Ministry of Health, Abdul Latif Al-Hajj, said: "In the Gaza Strip, about 9 thousand patients are waiting for their suffering to end by providing them with the necessary treatment."
Al-Hajj explained that "the health system in the Israeli besieged strip for more than 16 years suffers from gaps in health care for cancer patients, including early detection, diagnostic services, radiological and chemotherapy treatments."
The Palestinian official appealed to "the international community and human rights institutions to assume their responsibilities and pressure Israel to play its role and allow the movement of patients to hospitals in Jerusalem and the West Bank for treatment."
Al-Hajj indicated that his ministry "was able to collect treatment services for cancer patients in the Strip in one place, inside the Turkish-Palestinian Friendship Hospital."
According to the Palestinian Ministry of Health, the rate of cancer deaths in Gaza amounted to about 12.5% of the total deaths in the world for the year 2021.
The ministry stated in a statement that the past six years witnessed an increase in the incidence of cancer, as "the incidence rate increased from 89 cases per 100,000 people to 91.3 cases per 100,000 people."
The ministry pointed out that "the unavailability of radiotherapy and atomic scanning due to the Israeli ban threatens the lives of hundreds of patients."
The Ministry of Health stated that the year 2022 witnessed the arrival of 6,000 cancer patients to the Turkish-Palestinian Friendship Hospital, expressing its expectations that about 2,000 new cases would be recorded during the year 2023.
The medical director of Al-Sadaqa Hospital, Muhammad Abu Nada, said, "The hospital's outpatient clinic receives about 450 cases per day," noting that "the day-care department receives daily cases ranging between 70 and 80, and 4 hospitalization departments receive about 70 cases of cancer patients in Gaza."
In a statement to Anadolu Agency, Abu Nada denounced "the lack of radiotherapy in all Gaza hospitals due to the blockade."
He explained that "chemotherapy is available inside the hospital at a simple rate of up to 50%, while patients face serious conditions due to the lack of this treatment."
Many patients in the Gaza Strip depend on hospitals in East Jerusalem and the occupied West Bank, to receive treatment and perform operations that are not available in the Strip.
There's urgent appeal from Palestine's Ministry of Health for international support.
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