On the latest episode of the
Ralph Nader Radio Hour, host Ralph Nader spoke with Dr. Feroze Sidhwa, an American trauma surgeon whose extensive volunteer work in Gaza is featured in the new documentary film
American Doctor, regarding the undercount of casualties in the Gaza strip.
Dr. Sidhwa, author of the three-part
Zeteo series
The Truth About Gaza's Dead, explained why official Ministry of Health figures fail to capture the full scope of the devastation:
"The Ministry of Health's count is very limited... It just can't count people that never arrive at a hospital. So, if you are in a building and it collapses... none of those people are on the list of Ministry of Health dead, nor can they be. They're just bones at this point...
The second and... probably the largest category is: People who were killed during the most intensive phases of destruction, especially in the north, and their families just buried them... When the Israelis are destroying and shooting everybody that goes outside, there's not really much point to hauling that person's body to the hospital... So those people were just buried and then they moved on."
On the true number of dead from direct violence, Sidhwa said
: “I think a reasonable upper limit of the number killed by violence—again, not including indirect deaths—a reasonable upper limit I can come up with is 437,000.”
When asked if adding indirect deaths—from starvation, disease, contaminated water, dysentery, and lack of healthcare—could push the total death toll past
600,000, Dr. Sidhwa confirmed that figure is "entirely plausible."
Currently barred by Israel from re-entering Gaza, Dr. Sidhwa told the Radio Hour that he has a volunteer research team ready to conduct a comprehensive ground study to "find the actual answer as best as it can be scientifically determined."
“The entire thing would take, it would probably take about a month of planning, one month of execution. and one month of data analysis. And all of that would cost anywhere between $10,000 and $20,000. It's an absolute nothing burger in terms of expenses, in terms of resources. It just has to be allowed to be done.”
The full interview is available now at ralphnaderradiohour.com.
The
Ralph Nader Radio Hour airs weekly on Pacifica Radio stations across the United States and is available as a podcast online at
ralphnaderradiohour.com.