(MENAFN- The Journal Of Turkish Weekly) The public health situation in the war-battered Gaza Strip is "disastrous" € and continues to deteriorate € due to Israel's years-long blockade of the territory and the ongoing closure of its border crossings, a Palestinian NGO said Tuesday.
"As the world marks World Health Day, the healthcare and food safety situations in Gaza continue to deteriorate, with patients unable to receive proper treatment and nutrition," the Ensan Center for Human Rights and Democracy said in a statement.
"Healthcare conditions in Gaza are disastrous and continue to worsen with the closure of border crossings and the continuation of the Israeli blockade, which has remained in place since 2007," the NGO said.
"The closure of [the Gaza Strip's] border crossings has led to increasing numbers of fatalities due to the shortage of medicine, medical equipment and proper nutrition," the NGO added.
"A thousand people are in desperate need of medical attention in Egypt each month," the NGO noted, adding that the closure of the Rafah border crossing with Egypt "is preventing patients from leaving the strip, thus endangering their lives."
Egypt has tightened its grip on its border with Gaza since the army ousted Mohamed Morsi € the country's first freely elected president € in mid-2013.
Repeated closures of the Rafah crossing, Gaza's only access to the outside world not under Israeli control, have made life even more difficult for Gaza's roughly 1.9 million residents, who have groaned under an airtight Israeli blockade since 2007.
The Ensan Center urged international health organizations to support Gaza's health sector and provide the strip's beleaguered inhabitants with badly needed medical and nutritional services.
World Health Day dates back to 1948, when the first World Health Summit was held.
Ever since, the UN's World Health Organization has marked its anniversary on April 7 of each year. It also uses the occasion to direct international attention to health-related issues worldwide.
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