Doctors Worldwide recognises that access to healthcare is a human right which is rightly enshrined in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights as well as the Geneva Conventions and International Humanitarian Law.
With this understanding, in times of war, the wounded and sick are protected, medical personnel are protected, and medical units and transports are protected.
Healthcare is not just about hospitals. It is so much more. It is about medical supplies, logistics, finance, training, data and information, administration and management. It is about disease surveillance and vaccination campaigns, it is about managing long-term conditions, delivering babies safely and looking after mothers and ensuring children have access to food and shelter. It is guaranteeing that the injured and sick can be taken safely and quickly to a place of care for treatment, and that those that are dying can be served with dignity and humanity.
However we continue to witness horrific suffering, degradation and deaths of innocent civilians including patients, women and children, as well as healthcare workers who have been working under extreme circumstances and duress due to the continued violence and attacks on the healthcare system in Gaza and Lebanon.
In particular, we are appalled at the military attacks over the last 48 hours targeted against Kemal Adwan Hospital, the Indonesian Hospital and Al Awda Hospital which have resulted in the deaths and detentions of patients, civilians and healthcare staff working and residing in these areas of North Gaza.
The sanctity of life is a universal ethical principle, and so violations against protecting and preserving life constitute an attack on humanity.
We continue to join global calls on political leaders to exert greater effort to bring about an immediate end to the violence and for immediate, complete and unimpeded humanitarian access.
