Health Catastrophe Looms in Palestine
    By St phanie Le Bars
    Le Monde

    Monday 08 May 2006

    Shelves in the pharmacy of the Ramallah public hospital are still stocked, but empty spaces here and there testify to the precariousness of the situation. "Today we lack about thirty products, notably syringes, tubes, certain antibiotics and medicine for dialysis patients," maintains the pharmacy's manager, Osama al-Far.

    "In a month, we won't have any antibiotics; I've already started into our "strategic inventory" that theoretically allows us to go on for two months." It will not be long before they're out of thread for surgical stitching up and intravenous fluids. "Then, we'll have to cancel all non-emergency surgery," the hospital's powerless director, Husni al-Attari, allows. Like all Palestinian public services, the governmental hospital in Ramallah has been living on its meager reserves since the beginning of March, and its 346 employees, like the 150,000 officials of the Palestinian Authority, have not been paid. The Israelis, collectors of the taxes due to the Palestinians, and then Westerners, brutally interrupted their flow of funds following the installation of a government dominated by Hamas after the January 25th elections. The Islamist movement's inscription on the European and American lists of terrorist organizations proscribes any contact with its representatives. At the moment, the prohibition is unanimousy respected, including by non-governmental organizations (NGOs) financed by the United States.

    As do all Palestinians, Mr. al-Attari pillories this decision. But in spite of short term problems, he shows confidence. "When the world understands that we are forced to close down our services and that patients die from the boycott, then things will move," predicts this orthopedic surgeon.

    That question will be addressed Tuesday, May 9, in New York at a meeting of the Quartet (the United Nations, United States, European Union, and Russia), which demands that Hamas renounce violence, recognize Israel, and honor the agreements signed by the Palestinian Authority.

    In the meantime, a humanitarian crisis looms. In his Ramallah offices, Salam Kanaan, from the NGO CARE, which is active in the health sector, insists: "In a week, Ramallah's central pharmacy (which supplies all the hospitals) will lack 85 essential products." CARE, financed in part by Americans, was supplying the inventories before.

    Mrs. Kanaan hopes for some flexibility in the strict rules imposed by the United States in order to be able to resume the purchase of medicines. "But even if we should get the green light today, we'd need at least two months before the first products would be delivered to the central pharmacy," she deplores. To this penury must be added ever more frequent dysfunctions: in the absence of income, health personnel have trouble paying for transportation and getting to work.

    That phenomenon is general among public officials and education personnel. Saturday, May 6, for the first time, demonstrators demanded payment of their salary, but strike movements remain marginal. "I'm not angry with the government, but with Americans and Europeans," explains one university professor who did not vote for Hamas.

    At al-Qods University, in the eastern suburbs of Jerusalem, accounts are tighter than usual. "Before Hamas's arrival, we were already living in the red, since the Education Minister had not paid out the entirety of our budget. For 2005 and 2006, he owes us 4 million dollars," maintains Moussa Bajali, in charge of finances for President Sari Nusseib , who is valued by Westerners for his pacifist positions. "At least, in a case of emergency, we used to be able to get some hundreds of thousands of dollars. Today, it's impossible, and since February the banks won't lend us a penny," he adds.

    The university is thinking of reducing its payroll by transforming full-time positions into part-time positions or by letting people go; it is also looking for money abroad. But for the moment, effective American pressure prevents any funds transfers to Palestinian banks.