The Director-General of World Health Organization (WHO), Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus has revealed that about 9,000 patients in the Gaza Strip require to be urgently evacuated for emergency treatment.
He disclosed this on Saturday on his official X page.
In his words, “With only 10 hospitals minimally functional across the whole of #Gaza, thousands of patients continue to be deprived of health care. Around 9,000 patients urgently need to be evacuated abroad for lifesaving health services, including treatment for cancer, injuries from bombardments, kidney dialysis and other chronic conditions”.
Recall that WHO’s previous assessment at the beginning of March revealed that 8000 patients needed emergency evacuation.
Tedros said that “so far, over 3,400 patients have been referred abroad through Rafah, including 2,198 wounded and 1,215 ill. But many more need to be evacuated.
He urged Israel to speed up approvals for evacuations so that critical patients can be treated.
According to WHO, Prior to the start of the war, Gaza had 36 operational hospitals but now, the war-torn Palestinian territory down to just 10 barely functioning hospitals.
Gaza’s health ministry revealed in a recent estimate that over 32,623 have been killed and over 75,092 injured since the war began.