Coerced innovation: Gaza makes its own tools to fight against COVID-19 | openDemocracy

According to the World Health Organisation the items urgently needed to address COVID-19 alongside ventilators are cardio-monitors, emergency cars and portable X-ray machines; equipment, disposables and drugs for the treatment of a respiratory disease; testing kits; and essential supplies for infection prevention and control, including PPE kits. All of these are in short supply.

While innovative engineering can provide a stop gap to this shortage temporarily, a sustainable and lasting improvement to the health outcomes of Palestinians in Gaza can only be feasible if the underlying political context is addressed.

The need to rapidly produce new products with limited material resources also raises ethical questions for engineers in Gaza. Sharaf has a small private electrical company in Gaza, but has never before developed anything in the medical field. “We have some medical equipment engineers in Gaza, but there is no industry for this work as such”, Sharaf explained.

His model is one of three currently under development in Gaza and due to be tested by Gaza’s Ministry of Health in the coming days, but there is no capacity in Gaza to test this equipment at scale. “The challenge in ventilator development is the issue of trying to standardise the device with limited materials available. The market in materials for medical engineering is extremely poor because of the blockade” said Sharaf.