2023-12-15 18:54:00
Gaza field hospital created by the United Arab Emirates suffers serious consequences from the collapse of local health systems
Lama Ali Hassan Alloush and his family followed orders to leave northern Gaza and seek refuge in the south. But then her shelter was attacked and she lost her right leg. (Photo: Scott McWhinnie / CNN) Lama Ali Hassan Alloush and her family followed orders to leave northern Gaza and seek refuge in the south. But then her shelter was attacked and she lost her right leg. (Photo: Scott McWhinnie / CNN) Lama Ali Hassan Alloush and her family followed orders to leave northern Gaza and seek refuge in the south. But then her shelter was attacked. She is now in the hospital, with her right leg amputated.
“The world doesn’t listen to us,” he said. “No one cares about us, we have been dying for more than 60 days, dying from bombings, and no one did anything.” She is being treated in a field hospital in Rafah, southern Gaza, created by the Government of the Emirates United Arabs. It was quickly built into a football stadium, but its staff and state-of-the-art equipment make its 150 beds highly sought after.
Treating trauma victims is fundamental to the work of doctors, but in this mission called “Operation Gallant Knight 3,” they are also seeing the consequences of the collapse of local health systems and the poor, overcrowded conditions they are causing. infectious diseases and other problems that affect communities.
“Someone arrived with a head wound and maggots coming out of the wound,” said the hospital’s medical director, Dr. Abdallah Al-Naqbi. “We can’t explain what kind of environment they were exposed to and, from a medical point of view, I can’t explain how dirty that situation was. Even our surgeon was surprised.”
Within 15 minutes of CNN arriving at the hospital, a loud bang from a nearby airstrike was heard. The doctors didn’t even flinch. “That’s real life,” Al-Naqbi said, adding that they hear at least 20 attacks a day. “I think we’ve gotten used to it.”
Soon a man and a 13-year-old boy, both with amputated limbs due to the bombing, arrived in wheelchairs. The notes delivered by the paramedics were stained with blood. Crews worked quickly to replace bandages that were being used as makeshift tourniquets.
“Not a single patient came to see me with a proper tourniquet,” Al-Naqbi detailed, explaining that properly stopping blood loss was essential to saving lives.
Inside the hospital, calm almost reigns, with organized staff efficiently caring for their patients, in wards, intensive care units and operating rooms. But war is always present. The Israeli military says that since October 7 it has attacked more than 22,000 targets in Gaza – an enclave just 40 kilometers long and 11 wide – far surpassing anything seen in modern warfare in terms of intensity and ferocity.
Read more about a CNN team’s visit to a field hospital in southern Gaza.
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