The severe conditions experienced by breast cancer patients in the Gaza Strip, burdened by the humanitarian crises that followed their malignant disease, as the Israeli blockade, which has been going on since 2007, prevents them from receiving the necessary treatment, in addition to the monster "Corona", which is now threatening the lives of all patients and vulnerable immunologists in Gaza.
According to the statement, the continued suspension of "medical transfers" from Gaza to the Occupied West Bank and interior, taken by the Ramallah Authority, since it severed relations with the occupation last May, the health conditions of "cancer patients" after they urgently needed to travel and receive treatment.
Despite the re-established relationship with the occupation last November, the file of medical transfers remains closed to patients in the Gaza Strip, where there is no cure for "cancer" as a result of the Israeli blockade.
Statistics
Breast cancer is one of the five most common diseases in the world, and who has 1.6 million new infections each year among women.
According to a report issued by the Palestinian Ministry of Health, there are 8,326 cancer patients in the Gaza Strip, the most common breast cancer, 18% of cancer patients, and 32.8% of female cancers, 316 new breast cancer cases are recorded in the Gaza Strip annually, and 15% of all cancer deaths occur.
Double suffering
1,500 women in the Gaza Strip suffer from breast cancer, and their crises are compounded, most notably the lack of radiation and atomic scans, the lack of biological treatment and specialized laboratories, and the lack of hormone and chemotherapy.
"Some patients make the difficult and compelling decision to undergo a complete mastectomy in Gaza, so that they do not have difficulty obtaining the transfers and permits needed to complete treatment in Jerusalem hospitals," the Red Crescent Society said.
According to the Al-Mezan Center for Human Rights, about 30% of patients´ requests for travel permits were rejected or delayed during the first half of this year, while at the same time allowing the patient and his companion to leave Gaza have the fear of arrest, or one of them, where the number of sick detainees and escorts at the Beit Hanoun crossing "Erez" from 2015 to the first half of this year 13 patients, while human rights sources indicate that five patients died in the current year 2020, waiting for the approval of the occupation, one of whom is in the process of traveling with the occupation. He´s got cancer.
The risk of "Gaza patients" travelling for treatment is very serious, as a result of the inability of Gaza´s health to deal with many critical situations, as a result of the lack of available resources, whether the capacity of medical staff or the availability of treatment and medicines."
Red Crescent warns
The Palestinian Red Crescent Society stated that the effects of the severe blockade on the world´s most populous coastal strip had affected the situation of women, and said that low living standards and high rates of poverty and unemployment had prevented women from accessing adequate health care due to the weak health system, the difficulty of obtaining permits to travel abroad in order to receive the necessary and necessary treatment, and that the outbreak of the Coved-19 pandemic had prevented women from accessing adequate health care because of the weak health system, the difficulty of obtaining permits to travel abroad in order to receive the necessary and necessary treatment, and the outbreak of the Coved-19 pandemic of cancer patients."
"Due to the deteriorating economic situation in the Gaza Strip, which applies to the majority of people, including breast cancer patients, the high cost of treatment has prevented patients from obtaining medical, psychological or cosmetic treatment as a result of which there is sufficient money to do so," the Red Crescent said.
The Red Crescent Society of the Gaza Strip (program to strengthen prevention and protection measures for marginalized women and girls and survivors of violence in the northern Gaza Strip) which it implements in cooperation with the Palestinian Medical Aid Foundation (MAP), confirmed the following:
1. The right to health is guaranteed in accordance with Palestinian and international legal legislation (Article 12, paragraph 1) in accordance with international human rights law, and the Israeli occupation bears full responsibility for providing it to the civilian population, as the one obliged to facilitate the movement of patients to obtain their right to treatment, without limiting it to saving lives.
2. We call for the provision of an appropriate mechanism to alleviate the suffering of cancer patients and to overcome the restrictions imposed on patients due to the Corona pandemic and to stop the Israeli coordination and blockade.
3. The need for cooperation between all stakeholders, whether governmental, civil or international, to ensure the supply of devices used in radiation therapy, and to provide treatment for breast cancer patients quickly and regularly.
4. The need to work to localize the full medical service in the Gaza Strip in a safe and correct way.
