Reference :
V-P-IL-E-03158
Date :
04/06/2018
Caption :
Gaza. Violence escalated in the border area of Gaza at the end of March. This man (25) was wounded on May 14. He is now waiting for follow-up surgeries. The healthcare system in Gaza is overwhelmed by the scope of the needs and until now doctors have been unable to say when the surgeries will take place. They tell the family to be patient. While patience is the first most important quality for everyone living in Gaza, the family is increasingly worried that they are simply unable to meet the wounded’s medical needs at home.
Confidentiality level :
public
Publication restrictions :
publication without restrictions
Description :
«The pain is unbearable, but I try not to scream, because I don’t want my family to spend more money on drugs» says the 25-year-old fisherman wounded in the recent upsurge of violence in Gaza.
His bandaged leg is propped up against two pillows. Metal rods and pins protrude from his bone. A plastic bag filled with pills is hanging on a window latch next to the bed. A simple room in the family house has been turned into a makeshift hospital ward. It’s an improvisation that has become a familiar sight in many houses in Gaza.
«Somebody has to be with him 24 hours», says his brother. He earns a living as a construction worker, but has been spending most of the time caring for the wounded man since a bullet hit his leg. He shares the task with the fisherman twin sister, who had to make her own sacrifices.
The wounded man, who looks thin and exhausted, knows the burden he’s placing on his family: «I feel like I have paralyzed the lives of two people. »
ICRC website, 06.08.2018, Article: “Violence escalated in the border area of Gaza at the end of March, resulting in dozens of deaths and thousands of wounded, many by live ammunition.
Hospitals, overwhelmed by a series of influxes of injured people, reached the limit of their capacity.
Medical staff soon faced uneasy dilemmas: either discharge patients early or have no space to receive new ones. The burden that hospitals could not handle fell on the shoulders of the families, adding emotional, financial and logistical stress to already difficult lives.
"We estimate there are over 1,300 people with complex, sometimes multiple injuries that will require at least three to five surgeries each. The recovery period may take months or even years and we believe some 400 will remain with temporary or permanent disability," says Dr. Gabriel Salazar, health coordinator in Gaza for the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC).
To support Gaza hospitals, the ICRC has opened a fully equipped 50-bed capacity surgical ward in an existing empty building in Shifa Hospital, the largest hospital in Gaza.
The 11-member ICRC surgical team is working side by side with the local medical team.”
Original material :
digital
Resolution :
5557x3705
Orientation :
landscape
Colour/B&W :
colour
