With Funding from the German Ministry of Foreign Affairs
CARE Distributes Emergency Medical Supplies to Gaza Hospitals

3 November 2007. CARE West Bank and Gaza has just completed the distribution of pharmaceuticals and disposables on emergency basis, to four Ministry of Health hospitals in the Gaza Strip.

Pharmaceuticals and disposables worth 200 thousand dollars were delivered to Al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza City; Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis; Abu Yousef An-Najjar Hospital in Rafah; and Al-Aqsa Hospital in Deir Al-Balah.

The four hospitals are considered as the main secondary health service providers in the Gaza Strip. They have 964 beds, and they are offering services to more than 150 thousand patients per year. In recent months, the hospitals had suffered shortages in medical supplies, and their ability to provide services had been hampered due to violence and internal conflict in the Gaza Strip, and restrictions imposed by the donor community.

Based on a rapid assessment conducted by CARE, medical supplies consisting of antibiotics for infectious diseases, I.V. fluids, anesthetics, life-saving pharmaceuticals for emergency units; and disposables, were delivered to the hospitals between August and October 2007. Funds were provided by the German Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The pharmaceuticals and supplies will meet hospital needs for approximately two to three months.

For more information, please contact Stephanie Baric,
Assistant country director (baric@carewbg.org)