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Health Ministry calls on donors to check with it first

The Palestinian Ministry of Health in Gaza called on all countries and civil society organizations which provide medical contributions, to check with it to determine the medicines required by Gaza’s most needy patients.

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GAZA, -The ministry said in a press release on Monday, “The random donations have caused serious problems. Some were not appropriate for medical emergencies and the level of health care available, and were in many cases unrecognised by the medical staff and patients, and were not compatible with drug policies and common treatment principles in Palestine.”

Some of the drugs were free medical samples, had less than a year left to expiration, or had even expired before arriving at the ministry’s storage, said the health ministry, calling the effort a waste of medicines and exhaustion of storage capacity.

The ministry emphasized that the total benefit of medicinal donations to Gaza "was only 30 percent", explaining that this does not contribute to bridging the deficit of necessary drugs and medical supplies.

The health ministry also noted that there is a shortage of drugs in its storage, with 114 items out of stock and 90 other items to run out within one to three months.