My neurosurgeon friend, Dr. Ahmed Al-Kahlout, who remains at Kamal Adwan Hospital, sent me this urgent message Just two hours ago: “The situation at Kamal Adwan Hospital is beyond catastrophic, it’s terrifying. Essential resources are completely depleted. There is no plaster for fractures, no metal plates to stabilize shattered bones, no functional surgical interventions, and not even basic oral painkillers or antibiotics. The only available medications are intravenous, yet even these cannot be used effectively due to a severe shortage of syringes, sterile supplies, and trained personnel. The medical staff is critically understaffed and overwhelmed, battling to treat a flood of patients with almost no resources. Just yesterday, a cart pulled by a donkey, carrying five severely injured young men, was struck by shelling at the hospital gate. This horror underlines the reality for those even at the hospital’s doorstep. If anyone is in the northern region or knows someone who is, and has access to essential medications, pills, capsules, antibiotics, painkillers, or drugs for chronic conditions like heart disease, hypertension, or diabetes, please bring them to Kamal Adwan Hospital. These supplies are urgently needed to save lives.”
Two weeks ago, Dr. Ahmed called for urgent help, a heartfelt and desperate plea that I shared with the hope it would reach organizations like the World Health Organization or global health authorities, anyone with the power to protect him and stop the terrible events at Kamal Adwan Hospital. Unfortunately, despite these efforts, Dr. Ahmed was killed just moments ago by an Israeli airstrike while he was on his way to the hospital. His plea now serves as a haunting reminder and an undeniable accusation against those who had the ability to intervene but chose to remain silent. The paragraph ends with a powerful question: how many more lives need to be lost before the world takes action?
