A rights group raised Monday alarm bells over the reluctance maintained by the Israeli occupation authorities (IOA) vis-à-vis the exacerbated health status of a Palestinian thalassemia-stricken detainee.
A lawyer from the Palestinian Prisoners Society (PPS) said following a visit to the Israeli Ofer lock-up that Palestinian detainee Ahmad al-Khassib has been diagnosed with thalassemia and is in urgent need of blood transfusion.
Al-Khassib needs regular transfusion of blood units every 21 days. However the Israeli prison authorities have been dragging their feet over his appeals for over one week.
21-year-old al-Khassib a native of Ramallah province was kidnapped by the Israeli occupation forces on November 7.
Thalassemias are inherited blood disorders that can result in the abnormal formation of hemoglobin. Treatment often includes regular blood transfusions iron chelation and folic acid.
As of 2013 thalassemia occurs in about 208 million people with about 4.7 million having severe disease. It is most common among people of Italian Greek Middle Eastern South Asian and African descent. It resulted in 25000 deaths in 2013 down from 36000 deaths in 1990.
