In the Gaza Strip many amputations are required carried out, while the limbs could still be saved under normal circumstances. There are several reasons for the amputations, said Rik Peeperkorn, World Health Organization (WHO) representative for the Palestinian territories, and Sean Casey, coordinator of the emergency medical team of the WHO, in a video call with the press on Tuesday.
In many cases, injured people arrive at hospitals too late because they are unable to do so persistent fighting could not achieve before. In addition, there is a lack of specialists in hospitals, such as vascular surgeons. The war between Hamas and Israel has also left hospitals and operating rooms for life-saving operations overcrowded. According to Peeperkorn, fifteen of the 36 hospitals in Gaza are currently still partially functioning. There are also three field hospitals.
,,I have never so many people with amputations,” says Peeperkorn, “including many children.” According to Save the Children, more than ten children lose a limb every day in Gaza. “Often this even happened without anesthesia, because there are too few doctors and nurses and the means to provide anesthesia are simply not there. There is also a shortage of antibiotics,” says the aid organization. “It is unnecessary that children have to suffer so much because of this war,” says local director Jason Lee. “Killing and maiming children is a serious crime.”