Gaza Gazette
Health

Hospitals face oxygen system collapse as entry restrictions tighten

Restrictions on equipment and spare parts are at the centre of the failure.

صورة أرشيفية من Gaza
Archive photo — shows the place, not the eventPhoto Jaber Jehad Badwan · licence CC BY-SA 4.0 · source

Hospitals across the Gaza Strip are facing the imminent collapse of their oxygen supply system, putting critically ill patients and life-saving departments at severe risk, according to accounts from the territory's health sector.

The immediate cause is described as restrictions on the entry of equipment, spare parts and the supplies needed to keep generation plants running.

An oxygen plant is not a single machine but a chain: compressors, filters and distribution lines. A missing part anywhere in that chain takes the whole plant offline.