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Virus Puts New Strain on Gaza's Overwhelmed Health System

Associated Press

   GAZA CITY, GAZA STRIP - Dr. Ahmed el-Rabiispent years treating
   Palestinians wounded by Israeli fire during wars and clashes in the
   Gaza Strip. Now that the coronavirus has reached the blockaded
   territory, the 37-year-old physician finds himself in the unfamiliar
   role of patient.

   El-Rabiiis the first Gaza doctor diagnosed with COVID-19 and is among
   dozens of health-care workers infected during the local outbreak, which
   was detected late last month. The spread among front-line workers has
   further strained an already overburdened health-care system.

   Speaking from one of the two hospitals designated to treat coronavirus
   cases, el-Rabiisaid the threat in many ways is more terrifying than
   war.

   During fighting, "you only fear being hit by shrapnel by mistake," he
   said. "But with the virus, you constantly worry because you do not know
   how or from where it will hit you: from a patient, from your colleague,
   or by touching the elevator or any other surface."

   Since 2007, Gaza has been under an Israeli-Egyptian blockade meant to
   isolate Hamas, the Islamic militant group that seized control of the
   territory that year from the internationally recognized Palestinian
   Authority.

   The blockade is believed to have played a key role in slowing the
   arrival of the coronavirus. Few people can move in and out of the
   territory, and Hamas placed anyone returning to Gaza into mandatory
   quarantine centers for three weeks.

   Before last month, the handful of Gaza's coronavirus cases were
   confined to the isolation facilities. But on Aug. 24, the first cases
   were detected among the general population, and the numbers have
   multiplied since.

   Despite limited testing capacity, over 1,000 active cases have already
   been detected. Nine people have died.

   The outbreak has been especially hard for Gaza's medical workers. For
   more than a decade, they have been on the front lines treating injuries
   during conflicts with Israel. They have worked in an ailing health
   system gutted by the blockade and intra-Palestinian political feuding
   that left doctors, nurses and other medical workers with only partial
   salaries.

   Now, the virus is straining medical workers physically, mentally and
   financially. Ahmed Shatat, a Health Ministry official, said at least 68
   medical workers have been infected.

   Experts have warned that a wider outbreak in Gaza, home to some 2
   million Palestinians, could be catastrophic because of the fragile
   health sector.

   "Gaza's health system is woefully underequipped to cope with a large
   outbreak, with only enough intensive care beds and ventilators to cope
   with a few dozen serious cases," the International Committee of the Red
   Cross warned last week.

   Shatat said there already was a shortage of medical workers even before
   the outbreak.

   To help alleviate a staffing crunch, the Health Ministry has shortened
   the mandatory quarantine times for doctors and nurses who may have been
   exposed to the virus, from three weeks to two weeks. But it is still
   struggling to sufficiently staff the quarantine centers and isolation
   hospitals. Hundreds of workers are in protective isolation due to
   possible exposure, and pregnant workers and those with underlying
   health issues are excluded.

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