Finland rejects EU request to take injured people from Gaza

Finland did not respond to the request made by the European Commission (EC) to the member states to take severely injured people in Gaza, reported national broadcaster Yle, quoting government source on Thursday.

Although some EU countries and Norway accepted the EC´s request and agreed to take the Palestinian patients, the Finnish Ministry of Social Affairs and Health said the country does not have the adequate resources to take the wounded and sick people.

According to the Yle report, the ministry said that with limited resources, Finland decided to provide Ukraine with medical assistance on priority basis with regard to patient evacuations.

EU countries Spain, Belgium, Italy, Luxembourg, Malta, Romania and Slovakia decided to take the patients responding to the request.

Spain took the first critically injured 16 children in July.

The commission made the request in May following a statement from the World Health Organisation (WHO).

More than 9,000 patients are in need of emergency treatment as the health system in Gaza has become out of capacity and WHO expected that 109 severely wounded people and children would be treated in the EU countries.

The Finnish Ministry of Social Affairs and Health pointed out that Finland is helping the people of Gaza through different international organisations.