GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip — A massive health crisis is looming in the Gaza Strip, as the Palestinian Authority (PA) in the West Bank has halted shipments of essential medicine, baby formula for sick children and medical supplies.
The Ministry of Health in the national consensus government in Ramallah notified its counterpart in Gaza that it was stopping the shipments May 8. The medication and medical equipment/supply shortage has reached a critical stage, as more than 170 drugs out of the 500 essential ones have run out.
The decision to ban medical supplies to Gaza is part of the PA's most recent measures to tighten the noose on Hamas, which has controlled the Gaza Strip since 2007 and is at odds with PA President Mahmoud Abbas and his Fatah party. The PA administers the West Bank. Other already-imposed measures have affected employees' salaries and cut off Gaza's power and water supplies.
Munir al-Barsh, general director of the Health Ministry’s pharmaceutical department in the Gaza Strip, told Al-Monitor, “The consensus government … is responsible for supplying medication and medical and health supplies worth $40 million yearly to the Gaza Strip. The supplies are distributed to sick people for free, and those [people] benefit from the Palestinian medical insurance and receive treatment in hospitals and clinics affiliated with the ministry.”
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