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UN PhotoUNFPA / GAZA CAMP MEDICAL POINT
STORY: UNFPA / GAZA CAMP MEDICAL POINT
TRT: 03:56
SOURCE: UNFPA
RESTRICTIONS: CREDIT UNFPA ON SCREEN CLEARLY VISIBLE
LANGUAGES: ARABIC / NATS
DATELINE: 28 FEBRUARY 2024, DISPLACEMENT CAMP, MAWASI, SOUTH GAZA
1.Wide shot, ultrasound machine in a makeshift medical tent
2.Wide shot, a makeshift medical tent
3.Wide shot, Dr. Mohamed Ragab and his patient Haneenn Baraka
4.Close up, Dr. Ragab’s hand and medicines
5.Med shot, Dr. Ragab
6.SOUNDBITE (Arabic) Dr. Mohamed Ragab, Gynecologist and Obstetrician:
“I used to work at Nasser Medical Complex, but now I’m working in the displacement camps. I have opened a medical point to provide care for pregnant women and women's health in general.”
7. SOUNDBITE (Arabic) Dr. Mohamed Ragab, Gynecologist and Obstetrician:
“It’s important because it might be the only medical point operational in the displacement camps where we can deliver antenatal and pregnancy care.”
8. SOUNDBITE (Arabic) Dr. Mohamed Ragab, Gynecologist and Obstetrician:
“The majority of cases we handle involve urinary tract infections, largely attributed to the scarcity of drinkable water.”
9. SOUNDBITE (Arabic) Dr. Mohamed Ragab, Gynecologist and Obstetrician:
“I also receive serious cases.I can elaborate on these. For example: these cases often involve bleeding, which is usually due to miscarriage in the first months of pregnancy or placental abruption. These cases are considered very critical, as they may lead not only to the death of the fetus but also endanger the mother's life. In fact, if I don’t diagnose it in time and quickly enough, the woman will definitely die. Or we may have to perform a hysterectomy.”
10.Med shot, Dr. Ragab and patient
11.Wide shot, Dr. Ragab and patient
12.Med shot, Haneenn Baraka
13.Med shot, a midwife taking blood pressure reading
14.Close up, a midwife taking blood pressure reading
15.SOUNDBITE(Arabic) Haneenn Baraka, 30/Displaced expectant mother:
“My name is Haneenn Baraka. I am thirty years old, and I am in the eighth month of my pregnancy. This baby is my third child.”
16.SOUNDBITE(Arabic) Haneenn Baraka, 30/Displaced expectant mother:
“This pregnancy was not like the previous pregnancies at all.I am very tired. I mean, a pregnant woman is naturally tired during pregnancy while she is at her own home, let alone when she lives on the sand with life like it currently is. The lack of bathrooms and other important things, it all makes the whole situation unbearable.”
17. SOUNDBITE (Arabic) Dr. Mohamed Ragab, Gynecologist and Obstetrician:
“There are many women who came to us in the seventh, eighth, and ninth months, but this was not by their choice. And that was the first time they visited an obstetrician and gynecologist, the first time they had a follow up session.”
18. SOUNDBITE (Arabic) Dr. Mohamed Ragab, Gynecologist and Obstetrician:
“The challenges are the large number that we receive daily. At least 50 to 70 cases arrive daily. This is our first challenge.”
19. SOUNDBITE (Arabic) Dr. Mohamed Ragab, Gynecologist and Obstetrician:
“The second thing is the staff who work with me. I work here alone with one midwife. I cannot do this work alone. So, I need to be provided with logistical support. Thirdly, the necessary capabilities, like a laboratory, are not available here. I often need tests for patients, but it’s impossible. So, I have to improvise and find other means.”
20. Various shots, inside the medical point
21. Close up, Dr. Ragab and medicines
25.Wide shot, exterior of the displacement camp
The scale and speed of death and destruction in Gaza is unparalleled. Around 1.7 million people are displaced, communities have been obliterated, homes demolished, and entire families and generations wiped out. Around 1.1 million people in Gaza – half of the population – are facing catastrophic hunger and starvation.
Pregnant women are struggling to survive the nightmare in Gaza. They are suffering from hunger and the diseases that stalk it, amid life-threatening shortages of food, water and medical care. The estimated 5,500 pregnant women who will give birth in the coming month face unimaginable challenges in accessing adequate medical care.
The number of difficult births has soared compared to the time before the war. Mothers and babies are sick, scared, malnourished and exhausted – nursing staff often lack supplies. There are reports that newborns are dying because their mothers are unable to attend prenatal or postnatal check-ups. If the conflict continues, progress in reversing maternal and newborn deaths will be completely eroded, and maternal mortality will return to levels not seen for decades.
Only three maternity hospitals remain functional in Gaza. They are overwhelmed with patients, and doctors and midwives – desperate for medicines and supplies – are struggling to provide adequate care to newborns. Doctors report they are forced to make impossible decisions on whose life to save, where once they offered hope and the chance of healing.
Despite ongoing attacks and multiple obstructions to safe aid delivery, UNFPA and partners have delivered life-saving medicines and equipment which have supported more than half of the births in Gaza since the war began on 7 October. But this is not enough. The only way for the people of Gaza to come back from the brink of death is for the fighting to stop, for the rules of war to be respected by all parties and at all times, and for humanitarians to have safe, sustained and unconditional access to the people in need.
UNFPA welcomes the Security Council resolution on Gaza, demanding an immediate ceasefire, and the immediate and unconditional release of all hostages, and urges its immediate implementation.
