Outcry after Tunisian Doctor Dies in Hospital Lift Accident

Tunisian doctors and medical students protest on December 4, 2020 in front of the headquarters of the health ministry after the death of a resident doctor, who fell from a broken hospital elevator. (AFP)
Tunisian doctors and medical students protest on December 4, 2020 in front of the headquarters of the health ministry after the death of a resident doctor, who fell from a broken hospital elevator. (AFP)
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Outcry after Tunisian Doctor Dies in Hospital Lift Accident

Tunisian doctors and medical students protest on December 4, 2020 in front of the headquarters of the health ministry after the death of a resident doctor, who fell from a broken hospital elevator. (AFP)
Tunisian doctors and medical students protest on December 4, 2020 in front of the headquarters of the health ministry after the death of a resident doctor, who fell from a broken hospital elevator. (AFP)

Hundreds of medics protested in Tunisia on Friday after a young doctor died in a hospital elevator accident in the country's northwest.

Badreddedine Aloui, 27, plunged to his death Thursday down an elevator shaft after the lift doors opened but with no elevator in place, witnesses interviewed by local media said.

The elevator, in a hospital in the marginalized Jendouba region, had allegedly remained in service despite a long-reported fault.

Hundreds of doctors, health workers and medical students gathered in front of the health ministry in the capital Tunis on Friday, demanding the health minister and other officials be sacked, an AFP correspondent reported.

The hospital has been visited by two government ministers over the past months, including Health Minister Faouzi Mehdi in October.

"A young doctor has died as a result of this negligence," said Zied Bouguerra, a member of the Tunisian Organization of Young Doctors.

A protest was also held in the eastern port city of Sfax.

Local media reported that Prime Minister Hichem Mechichi ordered a state funeral, with the surgeon to be buried Friday in his native Kasserine, in western Tunisia.

Tunisians have also taken to social media to denounce what they say are dysfunctional public services, particularly in the health sector, in the midst of the novel coronavirus pandemic.

Tunisia had managed to keep its outbreak largely contained until the end of June but cases have soared in recent months.

The North African country has officially registered over 3,300 deaths and is nearing 100,000 infections.

Hospitals with limited resources and management problems have been struggling to cope.

The accident came at a time when the country's health budget is currently before parliament.



Gaza: Polio Vaccine Campaign Kicks off a day Before Expected Pause in Fighting

A health worker administers a polio vaccine to a child at a hospital in Khan Younis, Saturday, Aug. 31, 2024. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)
A health worker administers a polio vaccine to a child at a hospital in Khan Younis, Saturday, Aug. 31, 2024. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)
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Gaza: Polio Vaccine Campaign Kicks off a day Before Expected Pause in Fighting

A health worker administers a polio vaccine to a child at a hospital in Khan Younis, Saturday, Aug. 31, 2024. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)
A health worker administers a polio vaccine to a child at a hospital in Khan Younis, Saturday, Aug. 31, 2024. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)

A campaign to inoculate children in Gaza against polio and prevent the spread of the virus began on Saturday, Gaza's Health Ministry said, as Palestinians in both the Hamas-governed enclave and the occupied West Bank reeled from Israel's ongoing military offensives.

Children in Gaza began receiving vaccines, the health ministry told a news conference, a day before the large-scale vaccine rollout and planned pause in fighting agreed to by Israel and the UN World Health Organization. The WHO confirmed the larger campaign would begin Sunday.

“There must be a ceasefire so that the teams can reach everyone targeted by this campaign,” said Dr. Yousef Abu Al-Rish, deputy health minister, describing scenes of sewage running through crowded tent camps in Gaza.

Associated Press journalists saw about 10 infants receiving vaccine doses at Nasser hospital in Khan Younis.

Israel is expected to pause some operations in Gaza on Sunday to allow health workers to administer vaccines to some 650,000 Palestinian children. Officials said the pause would last at least nine hours and is unrelated to ongoing cease-fire negotiations.

“We will vaccinate up to 10-year-olds and God willing we will be fine,” said Dr. Bassam Abu Ahmed, general coordinator of public health programs at Al-Quds University.

The vaccination campaign comes after the first polio case in 25 years in Gaza was discovered this month. Doctors concluded a 10-month-old had been partially paralyzed by a mutated strain of the virus after not being vaccinated due to fighting.

Healthcare workers in Gaza have been warning of the potential for a polio outbreak for months. The humanitarian crisis has deepened during the war that broke out after Hamas-led militants stormed into southern Israel on Oct. 7.
Israel’s retaliatory offensive has killed more than 40,000 Palestinians, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry, which does not say how many were militants.

Hours earlier, the Health Ministry said hospitals received 89 dead on Saturday, including 26 who died in an overnight Israeli bombardment, and 205 wounded — one of the highest daily tallies in months.