Deir al-Balah, Aug 6: At Gaza’s Shifa Hospital, 27-year-old neurosurgeon Dr. Jamal Salha works under extreme conditions with no sterilized tools, electricity, or painkillers.
Once Gaza’s largest hospital, Shifa is now crippled by war, repeated Israeli raids, and severe shortages of medical supplies.
Only three of its original 21 operating rooms function, and patients lie on floors or in tents due to lack of beds.
The hospital staff has halved, many unpaid and malnourished. Salha, who trained at Shifa, fled northern Gaza during the war and returned to find it in ruins.
He has performed over 200 surgeries amid worsening malnutrition and overwhelming casualties. Israeli forces claimed Shifa was used by Hamas but provided limited evidence. Equipment remains destroyed or unusable.
Some patients die waiting for care.
Despite the devastation, moments of recovery, like a young girl regaining her sight, offer brief hope. “We deal with patients in our sleep,” Salha says. “Then we wake up and ask: what just happened?” (AP)
