Ref: 03/2021
Date: 05 January 2020
Time: 09:30 GMT
On Monday, 04 January 2020, the Gaza Ministry of Health (MOH) declared it is out of stock of testing materials necessary for newborns testing for Phenylketonuria (PKU).
Dr. Ayman al-Halabi, Director-General of the Technical Support Units at the MOH, informed PCHR’s researcher that the PKU test material, which is necessary for testing newborns within the first week of their birth to diagnose Phenylketonuria disease and determine the level of amino acids necessary for brain growth and formation and cognitive development. Dr. al-Halabi added that this test diagnoses the disease, so children can be treated, if proven infected, by giving them a special type of milk and then putting them on a certain diet. Dr. al-Halabi warned that any delay in the diagnosis or testing of newborns would cause serious complications to their health that may lead to brain damage, neurological problems such as seizures and tremors, growth problems, and intellectual disability. Dr. al-Halabi called upon all competent authorities to provide the testing materials urgently, emphasizing that this test is done only at the MOH’s Central Laboratory in Gaza as all samples (around 5000-6000 monthly samples) are collected from medical facilities all over the Gaza Strip, including the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) clinics, so that they are tested at the Central Laboratory.
Dr. al-Halabi added that the Central Laboratory obtains the PKU testing material from the MOH warehouses in Ramallah, which was informed that the materials were about to run out of stock; however, the MOH did not provide any new supplies, and the material ran out yesterday. It should be noted that this disease is an inherited disorder that increases the levels of a substance called phenylalanine in the blood and thereby building up to harmful levels in the body, causing serious health problems in a child.
PCHR warns of the serious repercussions of the PKU testing material shortage on the lives of thousands of newborns in the Gaza Strip and recalls that the Gaza Strip health facilities are already in a fragile state due to the 14-year long Israeli closure and the consequences of the Palestinian internal division and political conflicts. These factors combined caused the weakness of the Gaza healthcare system and a chronic shortage of basic medicines and medical devices and specialized medical personnel, making the healthcare system unable to meet the Gaza Strip’s basic health needs in regular times.
According to the MOH, its central warehouses have acute and serious shortage of the essential drugs list; as the number of drug categories at zero stock has reached 277 out of 516, with a 53% deficit rate; while the number of categories that suffice for less than 3 months has reached 67 (13%). Moreover, the central warehouses have acute and serious shortage in the essential medical supplies list; as the number of categories at zero stock has reached 274 out of 853, with a 32.1% deficit rate, and the number of categories that suffice for less than 3 months has reached 61 (7.1%).
Fearing for the life of thousands of children in the Gaza Strip, PCHR stresses that Israel holds the primary responsibility for providing medical supplies to the Gaza Strip population in accordance with Articles 55 and 56 of the Fourth Geneva Convention of 1949. PCHR also calls upon the MOH in Ramallah and Gaza to coordinate together and exert all efforts to provide medicine and medical supplies, particularly the PKU testing material to spare children the serious implications of not being tested.
