Boycott makes healthcare system crumble as officials fear epidemic

Gaza City: The shelves at Shifa Hospital's pharmacy are half empty. A shortage of anaesthesia means surgeons can do only emergency operations.

The kidney unit has cut back on dialysis because it's low on filters and four of the unit's patients have died from a lack of medicine, officials said.

The West's economic boycott of the Hamas-led regime has brought the perpetually strained Palestinian healthcare system to the brink of disaster, international aid workers and government officials said. They warn of an epidemic of preventable deaths if money is not found soon.

The cash crisis also could lead to the collapse of the Palestinian sanitation and sewage systems, raising the threat of cholera and other diseases breaking out during the sweltering summer, municipal officials say.

"If we can't continue our work, then disease will break out everywhere, and these diseases will not stop at borders," Health Minister Bassem Naim said. The entire system will break down in two months if money doesn't come in, he said.