Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital in Gaza struggles amid overwhelming patient influx

GAZA CITY, Palestine (AA) – The Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital in the central Gaza Strip faces overwhelming challenges in patient care, with wooden boards used to cope with patients’ influx.

The situation inside the facility is catastrophic, and the number of patients exceeds the number of beds by five times, the hospital’s spokesperson Khalil Al-Dakran said.

The hospital lacks medical supplies, medications, and fuel, he said, adding that the majority of those arriving are children, women, and elderly.

“In the emergency department, we receive injuries on wooden boards and treat them on the ground due to the lack of sufficient beds,” Al-Dakran said.

The hospital is overcrowded alongside a severe shortage of medical supplies, especially in the operating rooms, causing delays in upper and lower limb operations, according to the spokesperson.

He also said that most of the injuries are in the head, chest, abdomen, and limbs. Additionally, there are multiple injuries in one patient, requiring four or five surgeons to handle it.

Al-Dakran urged the international community to intervene and dispatch medications, food, medical supplies, medics, and fuel to the Gaza Strip.

He also called for the opening of the Rafah border crossing to facilitate the evacuation of all critical cases for treatment abroad.

At least 21,110 Palestinians have been killed and 55,243 others injured in relentless Israeli attacks on the Gaza Strip since October 7, according to local health authorities.

The Israeli onslaught has left Gaza in ruins, with 60% of the enclave’s infrastructure damaged or destroyed, and nearly 2 million people displaced amid acute shortages of food, clean water and medicines.