DaysofPal- After more than 30 months of Israel’s ongoing genocidal campaign on the Gaza Strip, heart patients are no longer battling illness alone. They are now struggling to survive within a healthcare system that has largely collapsed and is increasingly unable to keep them alive.
The widespread destruction of medical infrastructure, combined with severe shortages of medicines and equipment, has transformed chronic diseases into daily life-threatening conditions.
Hospitals across Gaza are witnessing overcrowding among cardiac patients while simultaneously suffering from a critical inability to provide even minimum levels of care.
With vital medical equipment out of service and essential medications depleted, the lives of thousands of patients now depend on emergency medical decisions shaped less by proper treatment standards than by the scarcity of available resources.
Sixty-six-year-old Mohammed Miqdad is one of those patients. He has remained inside Nasser Hospital for two months, unable to leave. He urgently needs a pacemaker that is currently unavailable, while his condition worsens with each passing day.
He suffers from repeated fainting episodes and severe drops in heart rate, reflecting the broader collapse of cardiac care in Gaza.
“My life is in danger and there is no solution,” he says, expressing the growing sense of hopelessness felt by many patients.
Fatima Al-Farra, 67, represents another example of the worsening crisis. She suffers from chronic hypertension that has led to dangerous complications, including fluid buildup in the lungs and the risk of stroke.
After previously undergoing a catheterization procedure, she was supposed to continue a strict treatment regimen. However, the unavailability of medication caused narrowing in the implanted stent, pushing her back into critical condition.
“I feel the end is near,” she says, in a stark reflection of diminishing confidence in survival.
Sharp Decline in Specialized Cardiac Services
The crisis extends far beyond medication shortages and now includes the near-total collapse of specialized cardiac services.
Dr. Ashraf Hallas, head of the cardiology department at Nasser Medical Complex, says Gaza’s healthcare sector has almost entirely lost its ability to treat heart disease effectively.
Before the war, hospitals in Gaza performed between five and eight catheterization procedures daily across several medical centers. Today, only a very limited number of operations are carried out, restricted almost entirely to the most critical cases under a harsh prioritization system that effectively determines who receives treatment and who is left without care.
According to Hallas, nearly 80 percent of scheduled procedures have been halted because of shortages in stents and medical balloons. In some cases, doctors are forced to end procedures without completing the necessary treatment, directly endangering patients’ lives.
The situation is equally severe when it comes to diagnostics. Electrocardiogram machines are either unavailable or insufficient, while echocardiography devices suffer from repeated breakdowns and shortages.
This lack of equipment severely limits doctors’ ability to monitor patients accurately, leading to delayed diagnoses and worsening complications.
Under such conditions, medical decision-making increasingly resembles crisis management rather than proper healthcare, with doctors forced to work within narrow limits dictated by scarcity rather than medical standards.
Travel Restrictions and Delayed Death Sentences
Patients requiring treatment outside Gaza face another major obstacle: restrictions on travel.
Many die while waiting for permits, turning medical referrals into desperate races against time.
According to available data, hundreds of patients and wounded individuals have died while awaiting the opportunity to receive treatment abroad, highlighting the deadly impact of restrictions on access to healthcare and the right to life.
The Ministry of Health says heart disease now accounts for approximately 56 percent of all deaths in Gaza, a figure expected to rise further under current conditions. Around 20,000 cardiac patients are reportedly facing serious difficulties accessing treatment while the healthcare system continues to deteriorate.
Since the beginning of the genocide, Israeli occupation forces have repeatedly targeted Gaza’s healthcare infrastructure through bombardment, destruction, and attacks that have pushed the medical system toward near-total collapse. Medical teams continue to work under catastrophic conditions in an effort to provide what limited healthcare services remain available.
Shortlink for this post: https://daysofpalestine.ps/?p=74526
