UK-funded hospital established in Gaza

Scale of the need in the enclave is simply staggering, says UK-Med CEO

A British-funded field hospital in Gaza has been established and will soon open to provide muchneeded healthcare services to the enclave’s population, it was reported on Saturday.

The tented hospital, set up by British nongovernmental organization UK-Med, left Manchester and arrived in the Palestinian territory earlier this week. It has a capacity for 250 patients a day, a report in The Telegraph said. It will replace a temporary medical facility previously set up by UK-Med, which could handle 100 patients, as well as its mobile health clinics set up on sites north of Rafah, where half of Gaza’s population has fled amid Israeli bombardment of the strip in its war with Hamas. Doctors and nurses from the UK and around the world will work at the new facility, The Telegraph report added.

“The scale of the need is simply staggering,” UK-Med CEO David Wightwick told the BBC.

“There are very few services of any kind and the health services have been eroded to the extent that if you are sick, if you are ill, if you are wounded, you are in a very difficult situation,” he added.

As well as the field hospital, UK-Med has sent a surgical team to help at the Al-Aqsa Hospital, the only permanent hospital still in operation in Gaza.

A top Israeli commander said Saturday his troops would continue their operation at Gaza’s largest hospital, Al-Shifa, until “the last militant is in their hands.”

Israeli troops launched the operation in and around the hospital on Monday, citing the need to clear senior Hamas operatives they claimed were based at the facility.

There are very few services of any kind and the health services have been eroded to the extent that if you are sick, if you are wounded, you are in a very difficult situation.

David Wightwick

CEO of UK-Med