By Haitham Tamimi
HEBRON, Sept 19 (Reuters) - Signs posted at entrances to Hebron's biggest public health clinic read: "We are sorry, we cannot provide treatment."
A strike by government workers has all but shut down the Hebron Healthy Clinic and many other public hospitals across the occupied West Bank.
At the city's main Ali'a hospital, notices tell prospective patients, "Doctors on strike".
The Hamas-led Palestinian Authority has not paid full salaries since March, when Western powers cut aid to pressure the Islamic militant group to recognise Israel, renounce violence and abide by interim peace deals.
Nabil al-Said, the top government health official in Hebron, said the open-ended strike means: "We don't provide treatment for all patients, only emergency cases, people about to die."
Hopes that formation of a unity government would bring a quick end to the strike have faded since Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas of Fatah put coalition talks with Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh of Hamas on hold.
Tensions flared on Monday when unpaid workers in Gaza blocked the path of Haniyeh's motorcade. His guards fired into the air to clear the crowd.
At many West Bank hospitals and clinics, non-emergency procedures, including immunisation shots for children, have been cancelled or scaled back.
Some smaller facilities have completely shut down.
"Government hospitals are supposed to provide free treatment for all patients," said Fawaz al-Asrawi, a 42-year-old father of four, waiting in the emergency room at Ali'a. "When I came seeking treatment, the doctor said we are out of work."
NO ALTERNATIVE
Similar restrictions are in effect at the main government hospital in Ramallah, according to director Hosni Atari. Immunisation shots are being given only once a week, compared to six days a week before the strike.
The Palestinian Ministry of Health employs approximately 11,000 workers and manages about 62 percent of all primary health clinics in the West Bank and Gaza.
The rest of the health clinics are run by the United Nations, private investment, nongovernmental organisations, and religious charities, many with ties to Hamas.
To ease the pressure on the health sector, a European Union aid programme has started paying "allowances" to hospital workers.
In a move that could provide additional relief, the World Bank said on Monday that a trust fund it administers would cover the running costs of key ministries, including health, for the next seven months.
But the World Bank programme will not pay salaries, officials said.
In Hebron, Sahar Taradeh, 27, said she came to the Healthy Clinic to get one of her children vaccinated but was turned away. "We have no other alternative," she said.
Childrens' vaccinations are available in private clinics but at a high cost.
Umm Mohammed, a mother of three, said she came to a government-run clinic in Hebron to get her child vaccinated but was told by a doctor: "When you hear the strike is over, come back."
(Additional reporting by Mohammed Assadi and Adam Entous)