Doctors in Gaza are now finding worms in flesh wounds of those injured in Israeli airstrikes due to the lack of hygiene, antibiotics, and sutures.
‘We have a health disaster. We have a type of worms, called white flies, covering the wounds after the surgery. They appear after one day. Most injuries and surgeries have no follow-up as the medical teams cannot cope with the influx of injuries every hour,’ Al Jazeera quoted Dr. Marwan Abusada, head of surgery at al-Shifa hospital as saying.
The doctor said there is an influx of wounded beyond the hospital’s capabilities.
Abusada said: ‘On a normal day, we have a capacity of 210 beds, and now we have more than 800 patients that need to be admitted. We are trying hard to continue delivering services to patients who need kidney dialysis, urgent catheterisation, and neonate incubators. But we are delivering the bare minimum, the situation is catastrophic.’
He also went on to say: ‘We have a huge issue with water shortages. All departments in al-Shifa have no water for eight hours, as it will be completely cut off. And then when we receive water, we only receive salty water that cannot be used for hygiene or drinking. We have minimum access to drinking water.’
‘Israel also bombed the main generator of Wafaa Hospital. Israel made sure to cut us off from all vital lifelines like water, electricity, fuel, medication, and food. The fuel left can no longer serve the hospital, we only use it for lifeline purposes. For example, the maternity ward has lights or electricity only four hours a day, and 110 women are there. Surgical wards that have patients recovering from surgery also have no electricity. Only the ICU, ER, and operating rooms have electricity,’ he added.