Gaza- Death is equal to life in the Palestinian Palestinian, Jamila Daher, and she was forced to take expired drugs, as a result of a severe drug crisis caused by the prevention of the Israeli occupation to enter medical and humanitarian supplies toGaza Strip.
“We have nothing but the Lord of the worlds, since the outbreak of this war and death lives between us, accompanying us in our tents and streets, and our souls may be kidnapped at any moment, by bombing or hunger, or even damaged medicines,” says this displaced elderly woman of Al Jazeera Net.
In a dilapidated tent, west of the city of Deir Al -Balah, in the middle of the sector, Daher, 75, resides with her family (14 individuals) since she was displaced from the town of Jabalia The northern Gaza Strip In the first week of the outbreak of the Israeli war, after an attack Al -Aqsa Flood On October 7, 2023.
I sat in a shadow of this tent, to escape from within it, which turned as an “unbearable oven” from the intensity of the winding sun, holding the tip of her garment and wiping her face and raging from her forehead, and she says that she suffers from heart disease, sugar and pressure, and she does not find the medicine, and does not strongly buy the available in pharmacies at high prices.
Expired
The “drug bag” does not leave this woman, and she refers to him, saying, “Two days ago, I have not taken the pressure medicine, and I did not find it in hospitals, clinics, medical points, and even in commercial pharmacies.”
As a result, the health condition of this lady deteriorated, and her limbs swelling, and according to her, she was “complications in the heart and lungs, due to the increase in water in the body,” according to what doctors told her at a medical point adjacent to the displacement camp in which she resides.
This woman has a more harsh experience, when she had a few weeks ago to take heart and sugar medications, and she was expired, and this was called up to transfer her to the hospital, and she says, “I knew that the medicine is expired, but what should I do?
This woman was obtaining her medicine monthly and regularly from clinics belonging to the agency United Nations For the relief and operation of Palestinian refugees “UNRWA“However, a few months ago, she suffers to provide some of them from private and international medical and medical points.
Medical siege
The same thing suffers from the sixtieth patient Suleiman Arafat, who took expired medications obtained from Al -Ahly Hospital, and after that he was injured in a state of poisoning, diarrhea and severe vomiting.
In a tent adjacent to Daher, Arafat, 65, lives with his family since they were displaced at the beginning of the war from the “Al -Zaytoun neighborhood” southeast of Gaza City, and tells Al -Jazeera Net that he suffers from heart diseases, pressure and infections in the nerves.
The period of the validity of the medicine that Arafat had ended 3 months ago, and says that many patients taking such expired medications due to their lack of available in hospitals and pharmacies, as a result of the siege and closure of crossings.
Arafat did not address – for a while that he had not accurately determined – the pressure of pressure disease, and he felt that his health is in a constant deterioration, and this was evident on the divisions of his face, and through his way of talking, and the difficulty he faces in pronouncing words.
This man does not have an income from which he lives, and his material conditions do not allow the search for medicines in commercial pharmacies, and he is constantly reviewing medical clinics belonging to UNRWA, government hospitals and medical points, and each time he finds the same answer, “not available and pending the opening of crossings and the introduction of medicines.”
“Medicines are severed, and in the recent period many expired medications, thank God anyway.”
Nassar is more fortunate than others, and she did not go through the experience of harsh displacement, and she resides with her family (9 individuals) in her home west of the city of Deir Al -Balah, but she suffers from heart diseases, pressure and problems with back vertebrae, and she does not find treatment and appropriate medicines.
“Many heart medications are not available, and she took an expired drug to walk,” she says to Al Jazeera Net, indicating that she knew that she was expired and taken forced to manage her.
By underestimating the fear and death together, Nassar replied to the Al -Jazeera Net question, “Do you not fear your life?” Without stuttering, “ages are in the hands of God, and we passed this war with many experiences and we saw what we have not seen throughout our lives, and the written written.”
Safaric balances
The Ministry of Health data indicates that 47% of the list of basic drugs circulated, and 65% of the medical consumers are zero.
The Director General of Pharmacy at the Ministry, Dr. Zakari Abu Qamar, explains to Al -Jazeera Net that “292 varieties out of 622 on the basic drug list are zero, in addition to that 63 varieties out of 174 varieties of medicines circulated in the emergency service are completely missing, with a rate of up to 36%.”
As a result, the Ministry of Health deliberately “extending the lives of some expired drugs,” Abu Qamar explains the matter as “an emergency procedure in light of the severe crisis caused by the repercussions of war and the siege.”
And he confirms that a specialized committee affiliated with the quality management of the Ministry holds the responsibility of this procedure, which is consistent with the constitutions of medicines, and is subject to specialized examinations and technical and physical studies, before the approval of the extension of the period of the drug for a certain period, while there are drugs that cannot be extended due to the lack of the possibility of experiments in the besieged sector.
This step is preceded- according to Abu Qamar- the research in alternatives, and says, “If the alternatives are available, they will dispense with the extension of the authority, which are limited to being an emergency procedure on the drugs that save life only, and not all kinds of lost medicines.”
Iders and tips
Abu Qamar confirms that there are many types of medicines and their alternatives completely missing from the stores of the Ministry of Health, and from private and private facilities and pharmacies, and that “the drug deficit is unprecedented, and the reality has worsened with the deprivation of the occupation to the private sector of importing medicines since the outbreak of the war, which was an important alternative to pressure from hospitals and government facilities.”
The medical official defines the criteria in which the life of the drug cannot be extended, namely:
- To be available.
- The variety should be essential but not savior of life.
- If technical studies prove that it cannot be extended.
- If technical studies are not available for a specific variety even if it is a savvy of life.
- Any class that may extension pose a threat to patients ’lives.
Resort to extend the validity of the drugs is a “global action”, according to Abu Qamar. He says that the ministry in Gaza has been working with it since before the outbreak of the war, as the sector has suffered from a strict siege since 2007 that was reflected on the health sector and all aspects of life, but the work has doubled during the current war due to the severity of the crisis.
The competent official warns against personal ijtihad in this aspect, and says, “It is strictly prohibited for any doctor or pharmacist who is not concerned with the field of studying medicines and conducting examinations to decide to extend the life of any drug.”
Patients should not diligently or rely on tips by non -specialists and take expired drugs, and make sure to verify the adhesive and the date of validity, according to the Director General of Pharmacy at the Ministry of Health.