The fuel crisis in Lebanon continues to reveal its repercussions, each more alarming than the last. Across the country, the army began on Saturday to mobilize to search closed gas stations and confiscate fuel reserves in order to distribute them to thousands of Lebanese in search of gasoline.
But the impossibility of finding fuel does not only affect drivers, it affects all economic sectors in Lebanon, but also the health sector. Thus, the American hospital in Beirut (AUB Medical Center, AUBMC) said on Saturday, in a statement with an extremely alarmist tone, to be facing a situation of “imminent disaster”. Due to the fuel shortage, the prestigious hospital center of the capital may be forced to shut down on Monday. “This means that respirators and other equipment to keep patients alive will be shut down. Forty adults and 15 children are connected to ventilators , they will die when the machines stop. 180 people suffering from kidney failure will die after a few days without dialysis. Hundreds of patients, adults and children, suffering from cancer, will die in the weeks and months to come in l ‘lack of adequate treatment,’ reads the press release from the hospital.
In this context, can we also read in the press release, the AUBMC launches an “urgent appeal” to the Lebanese government, to the United Nations, to the WHO, to Unicef, to all the agencies and organizations in the capacity of help in particular with the fuel oil, to avoid closing within 48 hours.
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The AUBMC also recalls that it already suffers from a shortage of drugs and medical equipment. To which are added, of course, the daunting power cuts. If Lebanon has suffered for months from a fuel supply crisis, due to the depletion of BDL reserves which allowed to subsidize the import of gasoline and fuel oil, the crisis worsened on Wednesday with the announcement by the central bank of the lifting of subsidies. On Saturday, the BDL and the Ministry of Energy, however, reached an agreement that could alleviate, for a few days at least, the gasoline crisis.
“The AUB and the AUBMC administration consider the Lebanese government as well as the officials within the Lebanese State totally responsible for this crisis and this humanitarian catastrophe, for any incident, any nuisance, any resulting death. the inability to provide the necessary medical care at AUBMC as well as in all hospitals in Lebanon “facing similar problems”.
Saturday, the director of the government hospital Rafic Hariri indicated, on Twitter, that only two of the seven generators of the famous establishment were running, in order to save fuel oil.
On Friday, another famous hospital in the capital was in danger of closing. If the Makassed hospital has been able to continue to function, for a moment at least, it is only thanks to aid, mobilized in a total emergency, by private benefactors as well as by the refinery in Tripoli. A help which made it possible to supply fuel oil to the establishment for ten days.
In general, the medical and hospital sector is dying. Several factors are involved: the massive exodus of nursing and medical corps, the socio-economic crisis, the shortage of drugs and medical equipment, the fuel crisis obviously.
This week, the president of the Beirut medical order, Charaf Abou Charaf, also sounded the alarm over the lack of cancer drugs and essential vaccines for children.
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The fuel crisis in Lebanon continues to reveal its repercussions, each more alarming than the last. Across the country, the army began on Saturday to mobilize to search closed gas stations and confiscate fuel reserves in order to distribute them to the thousands of Lebanese in search of gasoline, but the impossibility of finding. ..
