International Committee of the Red Cross - November 15, 2006 - Back to Resources Page

---

The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) increased its assistance activities as a
response to the increasing health needs that resulted from the suspension of funding
imposed on the Palestinian Authority (PA) by the Quartet and Israel. In particular, the ICRC
supported four hospitals and 30 Primary Health Care centres (PHC) of the Palestine Red
Crescent Society (PRCS), and paid the salaries of PRCS medical staff. In addition, the ICRC
has sought to alleviate serious gaps in the drugs and disposables Ministry of Health (MoH)
sectors.

In August, the ICRC initiated a process of support to all the MoH surgical hospitals by
providing drugs and disposables to the Central Medical Stores (CMS) in Gaza and the West
Bank (WB). These drugs specifically target emergency life-saving treatments.
The PA health staff went on strike on 23 August in protest for not having received their
salaries for six months. In Gaza, the strike has not been supported as widely as in the WB
and health services there are functioning at approximately 80%.

The European Union (EU), under the Temporary International Mechanism (TIM), provides
social allowances equivalent to a percentage of health workers' salaries since July. It has
extended this support until the end of 2006. However, health workers request that all
retrospective salaries be paid in full before they return to work.
Access of the population to hospitals and Primary Health Care (PHC) clinics is now severely
compromised.

To download the full report please click below:

Attachment	Size
il_to_health_report_2006.pdf	479.31 KB

---

International Committee of the Red Cross - November 15, 2006 - Back to Resources Page