The tragedy was repeated again in March 2023. A child died because there was no pediatric heart surgeon in Lebanon. This health disaster takes us back to February 2022, when we wrote about the death of 4 young children in just two weeks as a result of the emigration of 4 pediatric heart surgeons to different countries due to the economic crisis afflicting the country.
The situation has not changed and has not improved. The health crisis has gone from bad to worse. There are no specialized doctors as before, and the exorbitant cost is within everyone’s reach. A described crime that cannot be tolerated or turned a blind eye. It is a story of life or death, and what happened with this child may be repeated with anyone. So what are we waiting for next?
A lone hero fighting on the battlefield, he continues to travel between Lebanon and France every week, trying with all his strength and steadfastness to continue performing these surgeries on children suffering from congenital heart defects.
The head of the Doctors Syndicate, Dr. Youssef Bakhash, told An-Nahar that the child’s death, of which the rest of the details are unknown, was reported to him by the Minister of Health, Firas Al-Abyad, during a meeting at the embassy in France, when he spoke about the death due to the absence of a pediatric heart surgeon.
One doctor remained moving between Lebanon and France, trying to fill this great void left by the emigration of doctors from the crisis until today, while we need at least, according to Bakhash, about 12 pediatric heart surgeons, while on the ground there is only one mobile pediatric heart surgeon.
The greatest fear is that this incident will be repeated, whether in this field or in other medical fields. Bakhash points out that “resuscitation and anesthesiology doctors are scarce today, in addition to emergency doctors, whose number before the crisis did not exceed 60 doctors, but today their number has decreased by almost half, bearing in mind that we need 250-260 emergency doctors in Lebanon, because the latter is one of the charts the patient’s recovery path. Accordingly, we must “remediate the issue and work to organize the sector with the ingredients we have so that we do not reach other tragic situations.”
In Bakhash’s opinion, “we are facing continuous bleeding, which raises the most important question: Where to? It is true that we witnessed a large migration of doctors at the beginning of the crisis, but after 3 years and as a result of the continuous bleeding, we began to feel the side effects of this migration and its consequences.”
As a result of this great void, the syndicate launched a campaign through which it sought the help of doctors from abroad to organize operations that were carried out in a government hospital in the western Bekaa. Its aim was to meet the demand and fill this gap left by the migration of doctors from all specialties, especially the rare ones.
Despite all the health warnings that come out to the public, and the tragic stories that are told from time to time, the blame remains on the Lebanese state, which bears responsibility for what we are in.
The former head of the Doctors Syndicate, Sharaf Abu Sharaf, does not differ from what was said on this subject. In his opinion, the problem is divided into two main points. The first is the emigration of pediatric heart surgeons, who numbered about 4-5, and only one doctor remained in Rizk Hospital and another who constantly moves between Lebanon and France. . As for the second point, it is purely financial, as the cost of open-heart surgery is exorbitant, so how is the situation today after the deterioration of the lira and the rise of the dollar?
In the past, the official guarantors covered the costs of these surgeries, but as a result of the collapse of the lira, no one accepts this coverage anymore, which has become very cheap in comparison to the high cost. Therefore, the problem is more material than medical.
Medically, we are still able in Lebanon to carry out the practical duties. There is a section of doctors who remain and resist, and this group is able to secure the minimum in preserving the patient’s health, but the cost in the equipment and medicines used is high, which prevents the patient from performing surgery.
So, is hospitalization and medical treatment only for the rich? Bou Sharaf answers by saying: Unfortunately, yes, because the cost has become prohibitive. For example, the cost of open-heart surgery without placing any valve before the crisis was about 7 thousand dollars, today the cost is the same, except that today’s dollar is equal to more than 100 thousand pounds, and therefore the cost of surgery is equal to millions in the absence of guarantors.
The solution is according to Bou Sharaf with financing and the availability of funds to secure the necessary equipment and medicines, and the inability of a large number of patients to bear the costs. In conclusion, Lebanon is still able to provide health services at a high level and at the required speed, but the material resources are lacking, which is the main obstacle, not the availability of a doctor.
The specialist in pediatric heart diseases and congenital anomalies at the Beirut Heart Center, Dr. Nasser Odeh, continues his medical work despite the difficult circumstances, knowing full well that the situation we have reached is frightening and disastrous. He was one of the first doctors with whom we raised our voice to warn of the danger of emigrating specialist doctors, specifically pediatric heart surgeons. The tragedy is repeated today for the same reason, without us succeeding in curbing the continuous bleeding of medical and nursing emigration.
In his interview with An-Nahar, he admits that “the situation is very bad because the emigration of specialists has led to a flagrant shortage, as there is only one pediatric heart surgeon left in Lebanon who travels between Lebanon and Paris to save what can be saved and fill this great void in the country.”
As a result of this reality, priority is given to emergency and urgent cases, and the only surgeon, Dr. Yahya Jassar, tries hard to meet all cases as much as possible, and sometimes one complex surgery takes about 10 hours to complete before starting another. He moves between the American University Hospital, Hammoud, and Al-Rasoul Al-Azam Hospital during the three days during which he is in Lebanon, while there is no other surgeon able to meet the rest of the cases.
In Lebanon, according to statistics recorded in 2019, about 400 to 500 Lebanese children suffer from congenital heart defects. Today, the number is greater if we include the Syrian and Palestinian children. However, the Lebanese patient faces difficulty in securing the surgery costs, which range from 7 to 10 thousand dollars, while there are aids and organizations helping refugees to pay these costs.
Odeh also points out that “there are no pediatric cardiologists in the southern and Bekaa regions. There is a real crisis, and we fear that this tragedy will be repeated in other or even similar medical specialties. There are children born with congenital deformities, and they need emergency surgeries, and there are children who have heart problems.” And they wait for a long time due to the absence of heart surgeons for this group, and this flagrant shortage is strongly reflected and affects the outcome of the surgery, as some of them die because of the long wait or their poor health.”
We understand the fundamental reasons that prompted the medical staff to migrate, but the health situation we have reached in Lebanon obliges everyone to unite efforts and address the gaps in order to advance the medical sector, which has been groaning since the beginning of the economic crisis.
Today, the Lebanese are stuck between the cost of exorbitant hospital bills that they cannot afford, and health services at a minimum, after medical care became the monopoly of the rich only, while some of them suffer from the emigration of those with specializations, especially the rare ones, as some of them may pay with their lives for it, and this is what happened. Finally with the child who was born with a congenital heart defect.
