The Palestinian Ministry of Health in the Gaza Strip has warned that women in the region have been deprived of early screening programs for the prevention, diagnosis, and treatment of breast cancer for the second consecutive year.
The Palestinian Ministry of Health emphasized that the destruction of primary care centers and diagnostic imaging and examination departments has eliminated the possibility of evaluating the effectiveness of preventive measures.
According to the ministry, women who developed breast cancer before the start of the war or during it do not even have access to the minimum medical follow-up and specialized treatment facilities. Cancer drugs, especially those related to breast cancer, are among the services that have been most affected by the crisis of shortages of medical supplies and medicines.
The Gaza Ministry of Health announced that the severe reduction in healthy nutrition has had disastrous effects on sick women. The health system in the region has been deprived of the necessary infrastructure for control, prevention, early detection, and monitoring of patients; an occurrence that contradicts the approaches recommended by the international community.
The report from the Palestinian Ministry of Health shows that some women with breast cancer are in urgent need of radiation therapy, which is not available in Gaza, and due to the closure of the crossings, the possibility of traveling abroad to receive it has also been taken away from them.
The ministry announced that the escalation of economic problems, the destruction of specialized treatment centers, the ban on the entry of medicines, and the continued closure of the crossings have increased the risk for many female patients suffering from breast cancer.
ISNA