Health ministry: Dozens of patients may die in case of a power outage

he health ministry in the Gaza Strip warned that dozens of Palestinian patients might die within half an hour if there is any power outage in the units of intensive care, heart and preterm infants in Gaza hospitals.

Dr. Hasan Khalaf, the assistant deputy minister of health, pointed out that the breakdown of the main electricity generator in the compound of Al-Shifa hospital has become a threat to the lives of patients there.

Dr. Khalaf said that many medical devices need spare parts in order to reoperate them where the IOA refuses to allow in spare parts needed for the maintenance of these devices and the Red Cross failed too to bring them to the Strip.

The health official underlined that about 140 patients in the intensive care units, cardiac care centers and rooms of newborn babies in Al-Shifa hospital may die within half an hour if the power was cut off from the hospital.

He appealed to the international community to urgently intervene to save the deteriorating health situation in Gaza.