Palestinian health care at risk as strike widens

RAMALLAH, West Bank, May 11 (Reuters) Rusaila Rabee grabbed her stomach in pain during a long wait at a hospital emergency room in the occupied West Bank, where most medical workers have been on strike for months for their full salaries.

''Does a strike mean that people like me should be left to die?'' said the 70-year-old woman.

Suffering from a liver disease, Rabee made the difficult two-hour trip to Ramallah Hospital through several Israeli military checkpoints in hope that a doctor would drain a dangerous buildup of fluids in her abdomen.

Doctors at the facility referred a number of patients to private hospitals but Rabee said she could not afford a bill that could be as much as 4,500 shekels (1.135 dollars).

The Hamas-led government has been unable to pay full wages to civil servants for 14 months, its coffers nearly emptied by a Western aid embargo imposed to press the Islamic group to drop its refusal to recognise Israel.

Government-paid medical workers went on strike in February.

They stepped up their protest this week, deciding not to treat emergency cases such as Rabee.

The European Union and other aid groups have partly alleviated the fund shortage by paying partial salaries billed as ''allowances'' to health workers.

But many of the employees are threatening to shut down Palestinian hospitals completely by May 14 unless their wages are paid in full.

HEALTH CRISIS Eileen Daly, health coordinator for the International Committee of the Red Cross, said the strike could have long-lasting consequences.

''The longer the strike continues, the greater the likelihood of long-term health effects because of the drastic reduction in services such as vaccinations, medication for the chronically ill and for mother and child clinics,'' Daly said.

The majority of some 4 million Palestinians living in the West Bank and Gaza Strip rely on public health services that account for 62 per cent of clinics, and which employ about 11,000 doctors, nurses, therapists and emergency personnel.

Most other clinics are paid for by the United Nations, non-governmental groups, private companies and religious-based charities, including some with ties to Hamas.

A senior health official who declined to be identified, told Reuters: ''We are witnessing a catastrophe in the health sector.

They should find out a solution quickly.'' Palestinian Information Minister Mustafa al-Barghouthi has urged health workers to continue to provide emergency care, saying the government was trying to find funds to pay them.

At Ramallah Hospital, a woman turned frantic when told she would have to take her feverish two-month-old infant to a private clinic.

''I am afraid I could lose my baby on the way,'' she said.

Reuters GP VP0900