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Today's Paper | March 07, 2026

Published 07 Apr, 2024 01:00pm

A Gaza doctor’s diary: Reusing scalpels, operating with no anaesthesia

In Gaza today, scalpel blades have to be reused in surgeries but that results in them becoming too blunt to do what they are supposed to do, Al Jazeera states.

Medics often carry out surgical procedures without pain control. In Gaza today, nearly all patients suffer from malnutrition, so their wounds do not heal.

The infection rate among patients is “beyond imagination”, Dr Riyadh Almasharqah, 54, told Al Jazeera.

The plastic and reconstructive surgeon said instruments are rarely sterilised, and patients usually stay in overcrowded wards.

This is all a result of a siege imposed by Israel, which has severely limited food and lifesaving medical supplies from entering Gaza.

Read the full story here.

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