Palestinians with ‘life-changing injuries’ will need rehabilitation for years to come, WHO warns

On a recent visit to Gaza, Mr Dessi met a man who, injured around three months before, was left crippled when doctors only had time to treat one of his two leg fractures.

“Three months later, he was still sitting, laying on his bed in a little shack … once a month he would go back to the hospital and ask if they had time to put him on the list,” he said. “I was in Rafah and the hospital then closed down.”

The WHO report states that in-patient rehabilitation and prosthetic services are no longer available in Gaza. It added that the demand for assistive products, such as wheelchairs and crutches, far exceeded the available equipment.

Mr Dessi said that even those people suffering with injuries or disabilities able to access such equipment are still severely limited.

“They spend 99 per cent of their time stuck in the room or the tent where they live. Even if they can move around, with crutches or a wheelchair, they move around maybe 50 metres here and there,” he said.

“Most of the streets are damaged, most of the camps are on the sandy beach, so you cannot really move with a wheelchair, you can’t really go anywhere…they’re stuck.”

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