Human tragedy unfolds as Gaza runs on empty
By Robert Tait, Gaza City
6:37PM GMT 29 Nov 2013
The horrific scars disfigure Mona Abu Mraleels otherwise strikingly beautiful face. Swathes of bandages cover the injuries the 17-year-old sustained to her arms and legs in a blaze from which she narrowly escaped with her life.
Still racked by pain from burns to 40 per cent of her body, she goes to hospital on a daily basis to have her dressings changed. Specialist doctors are preparing to carry out a delicate skin graft operation in the coming days.
Yet the hospital on which her recovery depends is woefully ill-fitted to the task riddled by equipment failures, power cuts and shortages in a mounting crisis that doctors fear is leading to a health catastrophe.
Mona lives in Gaza, the impoverished Palestinian coastal enclave where chronic fuel shortages have led to electricity cuts of up to 18 hours a day and reduced ordinary life and public services to a standstill.
in full:
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/middleeast/palestinianauthority/10484903/Human-tragedy-unfolds-as-Gaza-runs-on-empty.html