Palestinian Health Minister, Majed Abu Ramadan discussed with his US counterpart, Xavier Becerra, the condition of the health sector in Palestine in light of the Israeli occupation’s aggression.
Health Minister Abu Ramadan and United States Secretary of Health and Human Services Becerra also discussed the means to enhance joint cooperation in the health field in a meeting that they held on the sidelines of the seventy-seventh World Health Assembly in Geneva.
Abu Ramadan briefed his US counterpart on Israeli brutal attacks against the Palestinian people and the health sector in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, and called for the US to intensify its efforts to immediately halt the aggression.
He stressed the necessity of providing the necessary support to the Palestinian health sector to ensure its continuity, in light of the difficult circumstances arising from the continuing occupation aggression. Such a support, he elaborated, includes meeting all humanitarian and medical needs, including medicines and medical supplies, allowing their unhindered entry into the Gaza Strip, and facilitating the access of medical delegations.
Such a support also involves the immediate provision of mobile clinics and field hospitals, and supporting the reconstruction of destroyed health facilities and hospitals in the Gaza Strip.
Abu Ramadan affirmed the need to provide support to all partners in the health sector, including UNRWA, and reinforce its main role in providing health and humanitarian services to Palestinian refugees in Palestine, Lebanon, Syria, and Jordan.
Commenting on the financial crisis gripping the Palestinian government, Abu Ramadan described the crisis as critical as Israel continues to withhold the Palestinian clearance revenues, resulting in the failure to pay the public servants and health sector personnel’s salaries and raising the debt due from the Health Ministry to approximately 2.67 billion shekels (approx. USD 722 million).
For his part, the US Secretary of Health affirmed his keen interest in following up on of the health and humanitarian situation in Palestine, as well as the demands of the Palestinian side in this regard.
source: WAFA
