Médecins Sans Frontières - ITW Guillemette Thomas (long version)

Unique Identifier Code / URN MSB176608

Date taken / Date Recorded 18/10/2023 12:00 AM

Country Palestinian Territories

Commissioning section MSF-FRANCE

Copyright MSF

Usage Rights (MSF) External Media, MSF Fundraising, MSF Publications, Social Media

Formal Consent Copy available no

Editor's rating ★★★ (F)

Video format h264 (Main) (avc1 / 0x31637661)

Duration 5m17s

Maximum Size 1920px × 1080px 462.01 MB

Additional Information / Shotlist Guillemette Thomas
MSF medical coordinator for the Occupied Palestinian Territory

The overall situation is the same everywhere: all the health facilities are completely overwhelmed and facing major shortages of even the basic drugs.
No hospital in Gaza is functioning normally.
We have reached a situation where the shortage of these medicines is endangering the lives of injured patients taken to hospitals.
Half of the population of Gaza is under 18 years old. So today, when we talk about the wounded, when we talk about the dead, when we talk about people arriving in hospitals, half of them are women and children.
An ambulance was targeted on the first day of the war in front of the emergency department of Nasser Hospital, inside the hospital’s compound. And that is not an isolated case.
Other ambulances have been hit and this is clearly and directly endangering both the functioning of the healthcare system and access to hospitals for the injured.
It’s obviously extremely difficult to run activities in this context. When it comes down to your own survival, how can you ask people to keep working?
It is extremely difficult and dangerous to move around the Gaza Strip today.
Some of our Palestinian colleagues still manage to work in hospitals on a voluntary basis.
Some of our staff are dedicated to surgical activities.
Many are still able to work in health facilities, depending on where they currently live or where they moved.
Many in our teams are still able to work at Al-Shifa Hospital in particular, which is the largest surgical hospital in northern Gaza.
The situation there is catastrophic and is getting worse by the day due to the continuous and massive influx of wounded as a result of the bombardments.
Today, the hospital is overwhelmed by the number of patients.
MSF has now donated its entire stock to the Ministry of Health to help it to cope with the constant inflow of patients.
Still, hospitals are facing shortages of everything: from drugs and dressings to catheters, et cetera.
You can't operate a patient without anesthetic. Today, we have none left in stock.
The other challenge today is that hospitals are facing a shortage of fuel to run their generators.
These are needed to provide electricity. A hospital without electricity is a hospital that no longer functions.
In practice, this means that neonatal incubators will stop working. Respirators in intensive care units will stop working. Operating theaters will no longer be able to function.
These patients will die as a result of the lack of electricity.
What's more, the most vulnerable people, such as pregnant women, those with chronic illnesses including cancer or diabetes, which can be easily managed in normal situations, are in fact at great risk.
Their health must be deteriorating very quickly, that’s for sure.
We count the injured, we count the dead.
And what we see is the tip of the iceberg. There are likely many more victims as a result of the indirect consequences of the conflict: population displacement, lack of water, lack of electricity, lack of shelter and food.
People are seeking refuge in schools and hospitals, huge numbers of people are displaced in places that are not designed to receive them.
Today, hospitals are seen as the last refuges for the Gazan population who are looking for a shelter for them and their families.
So hospitals are not only overwhelmed with patients, but are also becoming actual refugee camps.
Since the beginning of the conflict, the lack of water has been a major source of concern.
Today, the population is drinking salty water, which is unfit for human consumption. This is bound to have an impact on people's health in a matter of days, probably.
As an MSF doctor, what I'm asking for is a stop to the bombing and unconditional access for humanitarian aid throughout Gaza so that we can look after the population and the patients.
So that we can simply do our job.

ITW Guillemette Thomas (long version)_EN

ITW Guillemette Thomas (long version)_EN