MRN Press Statement On PA Politicking While Health Care Conditions Deteriorate in Occupied Gaza

PA president Mahmoud Abbas bears full responsibility for this vengeful disregard of urgent health care requirements, which allows the Apartheid regime of Israel to withhold its obligations as the Occupying power.

We note that Physicians for Human Rights – Israel (PHRI) demanded medicines and all basic needs of the people of the Gaza Strip be allowed entry into the besieged enclave, warning that the health and living conditions there are deteriorating.

In a report, the organisation said: “240 children and hundreds of cancer patients and cystic fibrosis patients do not receive treatment because the Palestinian Authority in Ramallah refuses to send budgets to the Health Ministry in Gaza.”

According to the report, the Gaza Strip today lacks one-third of the vital medicines it needs and more than 270 medical devices for operating rooms and emergency treatment.

“The main victims of the crisis are 321 cystic fibrosis patients, the majority of whom are children, cancer patients, and about 240 children who have developmental problems and need therapeutic milk,” it added.

We find it highly offensive and objectionable that the PA’s Health Ministry in Ramallah has also been refusing for the past two months to send medicines donated by donor countries to the Gaza Strip.

The Media Review Network demands the urgent intervention by the United Nations to ensure that Israel and its surrogate quisling known as the PA, immediately transfer medicines, medical products and all health care requirements to Gaza.

We also call on the South African government, our Health Ministry and relevant health care institutions to apply pressure on the Abbas-run PA to discharge its budgetary obligations without delay.

Iqbal Jassat

Exec Member: Media Review Network

Johannesburg

0835943749