Weeks before it collapsed… Details of the “black” reality for hospitals in Lebanon

Maryam, a Lebanese citizen, received a phone call from a hospital administration informing her that her young daughter’s tonsillectomy had been postponed. Maryam was surprised by the call and tried to get another appointment, but she was unsuccessful, she was told that all non-urgent operations would now be postponed, due to the situation current.

Maryam is an example of dozens or hundreds of cases that are trying to enter the hospital without results after his administration decided that they will only receive urgent cases due to the current situation in Lebanon and the ongoing war between Israel and Hezbollah.

Lebanon, famous for its medical tourism, is today suffering under the pressure of a widespread medical emergency since the seventeenth of September last year, the day hundreds of communication devices exploded by Hezbollah members in southern Lebanon and also in the southern suburbs in its mysterious way, causing the death and injury of hundreds of them.

As critical security incidents continue, and hundreds or even thousands of people are injured as a result of the ongoing war between the party and Israel, hospitals and their growing medical teams are facing huge challenges. worse day after day, especially after they and their medical. teams in several areas were targeted, and 5 of these hospitals stopped working.

As for the other hospitals in the “hot areas”, whether in the suburbs, or in the north and south of Bekaa, they work at a minimum on human and technical levels , after being converted into field hospitals for war casualties in particular.

In reviewing the map of the health landscape, it is noted that hospitals are distributed throughout all the regions of Lebanon suffering from great pressure to maintain their basic health services.

The head of the Syndicate of Hospital Owners in Lebanon, Suleiman Haroun, confirmed in an interview with the Al-Hurra website, “Hospitals are suffering from both problems, and they have not yet recovered from the economic blow that went through Lebanon, which led to the migration of a large number of doctors and nurses, so the current war comes with its strength, increasing preparedness.” a large number of them suffer from chest diseases that require dialysis or cancer treatment, or even major emergency surgeries, and all the patients were distributed to hospitals in coordination with the Ministry of Health through an operating room without limit, which is a link between the Ministry and all hospitals in Lebanon with the aim of providing the necessary health care. “

Haroun continued, “Medical teams are working day and night to assess the situation as much as possible, but the priority today is for war casualties and urgent medical cases, while non- emergency and postpone cold surgeries until a later time. “

Haroun said, “Despite the efforts made by the Minister of Health in the caretaker government, Firas Al-Abyad, to secure financial liquidity for the hospitals that receive those who are injured and who cares for the treatment of those who are displaced, the costs are borne by the hospitals. much more than the coverage of all the official sponsoring bodies. its economic collapse.”

It should be noted that Lebanon has been suffering from a financial and economic crisis since 2019, when the Lebanese pound lost more than 90% of its value, and the exchange rate of the dollar in the local market rose to a level 90 thousand Lebanese pounds. , after settling at the end of 1992 at a price of 1,500 Lebanese pounds per dollar after two years The end of the Lebanese war and the fighting ended with the signing of the Taif Agreement and Lebanon entering a period of political stability and a enter the reconstruction phase.

The Lebanese lost their savings in Lebanese banks as a result of this crisis, as well as the collapse of a large number of local and foreign institutions that were completely closed in the country or closed some of their branches in the regions.

This fact affected all institutions, including private hospitals, which did not receive most of their fees from the Insurance Institute, or received some of them at a value that was not equal to the actual value after the fall in the value of the national currency.

Then came the disaster of the explosion on August 4, 2020, a year after the financial and economic crisis, and it led to the destruction of some hospitals or parts of them to a large extent, especially since most of the established major hospitals. in Beirut and were severely damaged by this explosion, and have not yet emerged from this crisis The crisis had a huge cost to his administrations in terms of restoration and equipment.

Regarding the time for hospitals to continue working normally, Haroun said in an interview with the Al-Hurra website that “we are weeks before collapse, and the picture is dark in the near future, especially if air, land and sea routes are closed. .”

He ends by saying: “I don’t want to put a panic in the hearts of Lebanese, but this is the truth of the fear of the injuries.”

The total death toll from the beginning of the war until now, according to the Public Emergency Operation Center at the Ministry of Public Health, has reached 2,448 dead and 11,471 wounded.