Power stoppages impair the health a kidney patient requiring dialysis

Ahmad Shabat, kidney patient

I live in the Beit Hanun al-Balad neighborhood in Gaza City . I suffer from kidney deficiency, and the bombing of the Gaza power plant has seriously damaged my health.

My arteries are narrow, so I can't undergo the normal dialysis treatment, through the artery. The doctors installed a fistula (a special tube) through which I get dialysis treatments. It was impossible to do the operation in Gaza , so in April 2006, I went to a hospital in Egypt to get it done. They installed the tube in my right arm.

The tube connects the artery in my arm to the vein and enables the blood flow and dialysis. After I had the surgery, I returned to Gaza and began dialysis treatment three times a week, as the doctors prescribed. Since the bombing of the power plant, there are power stoppages all the time, in A-Shifa Hospital as well, where I go for dialysis.

Because of the lack of electricity, the hospital staff started to use generators for dialysis treatments. The generators have less power, and the power cuts off in the middle, sometimes for half a minute or a minute.

In this regard, the worst thing that happened to me took place in July. I was in the middle of a dialysis treatment at A-Shifa Hospital when there was a sudden power stoppage. That time, seven minutes passed before the generator restarted. A blood clot formed inside the tube in my right arm and the doctors had to cut the tube.

Since then, I have had to do the dialysis through my narrow arteries, in my left armpit. This is a very painful process, which gives me a fever and makes me short of breath. It is a temporary solution until I get a new tube in my left arm. The tube can't be placed in my right arm again because it swelled up incredibly large as a result of the damage to it. I have to go back to Egypt for the surgery, but I can't go now because Rafah Crossing is closed. Besides, I don't have the money for the travel and surgical costs. Of course, my health condition affects my mental state.

Ahmad Isma'il 'Awad Shabat, 52, married with seven children, is a resident of the Beit Hanun in the northern Gaza Strip. The testimony was given to Zaki Kahil, on 27 August, 2006.