Restocking Hospital Closets in Gaza

Mercy Corps is helping stock important medical supplies, such as new clothing and linens, during Gaza's latest crisis. Photo: courtesy of Mercy Corps

Rarely have deliveries of sheets and hospital gowns been so warmly received as in Gaza last month.

For months, the territory's healthcare sector has been reeling from Israel's ongoing blockade of fuel and other imports, leading to a shortage of even the most basic supplies. Mercy Corps helped restock linen shelves at Gaza's four main hospitals by distributing nearly 500 doctor's robes, more than 400 patient gowns and 1,354 bedsheets.

The high-quality linens were "highly appreciated" by staff at all the hospitals, says Isdud Al-Najjar, Mercy Corps' program manager in Gaza. These gowns and linens had to be made from two different kinds of fabric because of material shortages, she adds.

"Severe shortages" of medical supplies was noted in the latest report on Gaza from the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. It also said that "current stocks of medicines and medical supplies are insufficient" and that Gazan hospitals are "extremely vulnerable due to shortages of fuel." Israel has accused the Hamas-led government of diverting fuel supplies to manufacture rockets, and says that the blockade is necessary to protect civilians from attacks.

On March 6, Mercy Corps joined with five colleague agencies in calling for "immediate steps to stop the violence and alleviate the suffering" in Gaza by the international community and the parties to the conflict.

Sewing hospital linens was part of Mercy Corps' cash-for-work program, a European Union-funded effort that helps Gaza meet pressing economic needs while providing short-term jobs in a place where an estimated one out of every two people is unemployed. Between October 2006 and October 2007, the agency's cash-for-work activities employed about 4,200 workers and resulted in 84,000 days of employment. Today, approximately 350 people a month are employed doing activities such as cleaning streets, cooking for kindergartens and picking olives.

Making the gowns and linens required 40 women over one month to prepare the fabric and sew the finished products. Mercy Corps also put money into the pockets of two owners of idle factories, which started up again for four months to produce the materials as well as other items such as school uniforms for children.

Mercy Corps' Al-Najjar says the agency hopes to do more for Gaza's hospitals, since even after this latest project there remains a shortage of linens like pillowcases, sheets and curtains. But additional work will depend on the availability of fabric, she says, "which is very hard to find since the closure."