TEHRAN –Since the beginning of the Gaza war in October 2023, over 15,000 healthcare workers have announced readiness to help Palestinian people, a health official has said.

The medical staff are willing to be dispatched to Gaza provided that access to the region is secured, IRNA quoted Mohammad-Hossein Zarezadeh as saying.

The Palestinian Ministry of Health in the Gaza Strip announced on August 3 that the number of people martyred since the outbreak of the Zionist regime's attacks on the Gaza Strip on October 7, 2023, has reached 39,550.

Also, the Palestinian medical institution stated that more than 91,280 people have been wounded in the wake of the attacks so far.

Form Doctors Without Borders to help Gaza

In November 2023, Health Minister Bahram Einollahi asked member countries of the World Health Organization Eastern Mediterranean Regional Office (EMRO) to form a Doctors Without Borders organization of Islamic countries to provide essential medical services to Palestinians in Gaza.

Einollahi made the remarks while attending the extraordinary meeting of health ministers of the member countries of the WHO EMRO titled ‘Intensification of conflicts in the occupied Palestinian territories’.

The meeting was held virtually with the presence of health ministers of 22 countries, IRNA reported.

Condemning the actions of the notorious Zionist regime, especially the bombardment of hospitals and the killing of sick and defenseless patients and wounded in medical centers, he called for the formation of a Doctors Without Borders organization of Islamic countries to provide relief and humanitarian medical care for the victims of the war in Gaza.

Addressing the health ministers of 22 member countries of the WHO EMRO, he said, "According to the information received, hospitals are overwhelmed and low on fuel and electricity.”

“Also, drinking water and food for sick and pregnant women are not sufficient in Gaza,” he added.

“The health and medical forces in the Gaza Strip are doing their best to reduce the sufferings of the people in Gaza, despite being under the most difficult conditions with hospitals being critically low on supplies.”

He went on to say, “We, the health ministers, must take all necessary action to help the oppressed people of Gaza in order to prevent the genocide and massacre of the innocent people.”

Iran is ready to immediately send medical forces to provide health and medical services in Gaza, and we also ask the member countries of the EMRO to speed up the delivery of aid to Gaza and to open a permanent and reliable route to dispatch medical staff, rescuers and aid to Gaza since every single day delay is associated with the death of hundreds of oppressed women and children in this region.

Einollahi also urged the member countries of the EMRO to issue a joint statement condemning the crimes of the Zionist regime and its violations of international laws.

In the end, he said, “The crimes of the barbaric Zionist regime in shedding the blood of Palestinian civilians including women and children are a violation of all international laws and fundamental principles of human rights.

We welcome any action and cooperation that is carried out at the regional level of Islamic countries or at the international level to establish a ceasefire and prevent the child-killing Zionist regime from killing innocent and oppressed people of Gaza with the support of the United States and its allies.”

MT/MG