'We don't even have gloves'

NHS medics in Gaza tell Bel Trew about the severe lack of supplies in a health system that has practically collapsed’

- Bel Trew

NHS medics volunteering in Gaza have warned of the “catastrophic” collapse of the healthcare system one year into the war, as they described trying to treat the wounded and sick amid shortages of everything from paracetamol to surgical gauze.

Nurses and doctors working in field hospitals run by the British medical charity UK-Med have called for immediate delivery of supplies and for health workers and facilities to be protected, as the world marks the grim milestone of one year at war.

UK-Med, which runs two facilities in the centre of Gaza, has treated 200,000 people and sees around 1,400 patients a day, but is struggling with overwhelming demand and a punishing lack of supplies. “I have never seen such a lack of access to basic items needed to be a doctor – even gloves. We don’t have gloves,” said Claire Frost, an NHS general practitioner from Cardigan in Wales, who leads the UK-Med field hospital in Deir al-Balah.

She described the teams scrambling to deal with mass casualty events like a bombing of Al-Mawasi in July just 400m from their second field hospital facility. Al-Mawasi is earmarked by Israel as a so-called “humanitarian zone” and home to hundreds of thousands of displaced civilians. “We received 26 casualties, including two toddlers who needed multiple amputations. As a medical professional, I’ve seen children suffering from things that they should never suffer,” she added.

She explained that people with chronic conditions, such as hypertension and diabetes, had no access to their medications, quickly turning them into emergency cases. They run a weekly malnutrition clinic where the number of starving people is rising. Nine-month-old babies look like newborns because they are so thin.

“With winter around the corner, we are worried about a surge in communicable diseases like respiratory tract infections and waterborne diseases. We just don’t have enough antibiotics,” Dr Frost said.