Three-month old baby girl Yomna Allouh suffers from cramps and suffocation, spending her days between the intensive care unit, the child incubator and her family home in Deir Al-Balah, central Gaza Strip. Allouh waits her turn for a medical referral to receive treatment abroad.
The case of baby Allouh is not the only on, whereas dozens of sick children and newborns suffer on hospital beds, waiting to receive medical referrals for treatment abroad, amid the severe crisis seen by the medical sector in Gaza due to lack of medication and fuel.
On his baby’s suffering, father of Yomna Allouh said: “Yomna is my only child and, since her birth, she suffers of continuing cramps and falling into a coma from time to time, [while] we rush to [the] hospital, to help her restore [her] breathing on ventilator devices.”
The father has appealed to Palestinian Authority officials to open the medical referrals for Gaza patients, and to facilitate their travel abroad for treatment, via border crossings, to save their lives.
The head of the nursery department at Al-Aqsa hospital said: “We received the baby […] in a very serious condition, in a full body spasm and coma. We placed her on ventilators to restore her breathing, but this didn’t last long, in light of insufficient diagnosis in Gaza.”
“The baby has received a medical referral for treatment abroad since last June, but didn’t receive a response until this moment,” the doctor explained. “We warn of the serious implications of this delay, as the baby may lose her life at any moment,” he added, according to Al Ray.
“How long will my child Yomna suffer of bouts of spasm between hospital and home, how long will silence and disregard of people’s lives last?” Yomna’s father asked.
