Days of Palestine – Gaza
Dr. Ahmed Al-Shurafa, the Head of the Oncology Department at the European Gaza Hospital, south of the Gaza Strip, said that the number of cases recorded for cancer patients during the past recent years reached 8,644, indicating that the Gaza Strip annually records nearly 2,000 cases.
Dr. Al-Shurafa on World Cancer Day – which falls on February 4 – said that there are genetic factors that increase the possibility of infection and the other is environmental, the first of which is the presence of first-degree patients, and the second is environmental, which is smoking, stressing that it is a major cause of cancer of the larynx, stomach, bladder, neck, mouth, and lung, in addition to environmental pollution resulting from gases from factories and fires, according to the Ministry of Health website.
Dr. Al-Shurafa pointed out that some types of infections of the body's organs end up developing cancer, and the use of some drugs that contain hormonal substances increases the chance of getting the disease.
He stated that breast cancer is the most common cancer in the Gaza Strip, at a rate of 18% among women and men, followed by colon cancer, leukemia, thyroid cancer, and lung cancer.
Cancer patients in the Gaza Strip are suffering as a result of the crisis of special medicines.
According to Dr. Al-Shurafa, many patients do not receive treatment and are transferred inside the occupied country, while some cases cannot travel, attributing that to the siege imposed on the Gaza Strip and the obstacles that the Israeli occupation imposes on travelers.
Among the challenges facing patients, in addition to the drug crisis and the travel ban, is the lack of devices in the Gaza Strip for radiological scanning to detect different types of cancer, which delays the diagnosis of the disease in its early stages, according to Al-Shurafa.
Cancer is a major public health problem and it is the second major cause of death worldwide and affects all ages, races.
The 4th of February every year marks World Cancer Day to raise global awareness of the risks of the disease.
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