Gaza’s 9,000 cancer patients suffer from medicine shortages: health official

GAZA: The lack of medicines threatens the lives of more than 9,000 cancer patients in the Gaza Strip, warned a senior Palestinian health official on Monday.
“Cancer patients in the Gaza Strip suffer from a lack of diagnostic and treatment capabilities, with the increasing number of cancer patients among the population of the Gaza Strip,” said Subhi Skaik, the director general of the Gaza Cancer Center, at a press conference.
Skaik highlighted the high rate of tumours, citing data from the World Health Organization. The incidence of cancer in the Strip has reached 91.3 per 100,000 residents in 2021 and is projected to double by 2040. The current cancer death rate is 12.5 per cent.
Additionally, the patients in Gaza lack access to radiotherapy and nuclear medicine for diagnosis, said the official.
Israel’s travel restrictions further impede them from accessing life-saving treatment in the West Bank or East Jerusalem.
The health official called on the international community and the authorities concerned to intervene urgently to save the lives of cancer patients in the Strip.
Since 2007, some 2 million Palestinians residing in the coastal enclave have been under Israeli blockade after the Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas) seized control of the territory.
UNI/XINHUA