These conditions, which are worsening day after day, place the infrastructure of the Lebanese health sector, which is already exhausted as a result of the economic crisis that the country has experienced since the end of 2019, under enormous pressure that threatens its collapse.
This is what prompted the World Health Organization to highlight the seriousness of what the country’s health system is going through, which is struggling due to the limited human capacity and resources it enjoys.
According to the Director-General of the World Health Organization, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, out of 207 primary health care centers in conflict areas in Lebanon, 100 centers have been closed so far due to the escalation of violence, while five Lebanese hospitals closed their doors as a result of the structural damage they sustained. In the aftermath of the bombing.
He pointed out that the attacks on health workers and health facilities caused the death of nearly 100 people, as these numbers are likely to rise with the increasing pace of daily bombing in the country.
In recent hours, a new risk factor has emerged that reflects the depth of the crisis that the health sector is going through LebanonAnd increases the pressures that push this sector to the brink of abyss, as the World Health Organization warned that the risk of a cholera outbreak in Lebanon has become very high, after the Lebanese Ministry of Health confirmed the presence of one case of acute bacterial infection in northern Lebanon.
The organization indicated that, in light of the current conditions that Lebanon is going through, there is a risk of the spread of cholera among hundreds of thousands of citizens who have been displaced from their homes. The groups of displaced people who moved from southern Lebanon and the Beirut area have not acquired any immunity against cholera for three decades, as operations Vaccination against infections that cause severe diarrhea were previously concentrated in areas of northern Lebanon.
International warnings of the deterioration of the health system
International concerns focus on the fact that the health system in Lebanon will be subject to the burden of being unable to cope with the spread of diseases and viruses due to overcrowding in shelter centers and the spread of many displaced people sleeping in the streets, as a quarter of Lebanon’s population is now subject to Israeli military evacuation orders at the gates of winter.
According to the head of the Higher Relief Commission in Lebanon, Major General Muhammad Khair, the number of displaced people in the country is rising with every strike and threat, noting that so far 220,000 displaced people have been distributed to 950 shelter centers, while nearly half a million displaced people have been able to rent residential apartments away from… Conflict areas, while nearly 100,000 displaced people chose to leave Lebanon towards Syria, Iraq, and a number of Arab and Western countries.
In turn, officials called United Nations Those concerned with the humanitarian field called for urgent steps to be taken to stop the escalating conflict between Israel and Hezbollah, warning that Lebanon may face a “death spiral” similar to that experienced by the Gaza Strip over the past year.
While the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) and the World Food Program announced that the needs of the displaced in Lebanon are increasing, with one million and 200 thousand people affected by the conflict.
Targeting the health sector
For his part, the Lebanese Minister of Health, Dr. Firas Al-Abyad, warned in an interview with “Sky News Arabia” that the health sector in Lebanon is being directly targeted but is still steadfast, stressing that Israel is targeting health and emergency staff in Lebanon, which has led to 13 hospitals being out of service. Completely and partially.
The Lebanese Minister of Health revealed that about a third of the Lebanese people have become displaced, warning of the risk of epidemics spreading among them.
Al-Abyad had revealed in a previous interview with “Sky News Arabia” that the ministry’s main issue at the present time is for the health sector to have the medicines and medical supplies it needs in these difficult situations in anticipation of the worst scenarios, stressing that Lebanon has a stock of medicines and medical supplies. Enough for about 4 months.
The head of the Syndicate of Private Hospitals in Lebanon, Suleiman Haroun, said in an interview with “Iqtisad Sky News Arabia” website, that the health system in Lebanon, in light of the current situation, is able to withstand for weeks and not months due to the very great pressures it is exposed to.
He pointed out that the challenges facing the health sector in Lebanon range from financial pressures to the lack of sufficient medical staff, especially in areas whose residents are subject to displacement, so nursing staff in hospitals are working overtime.
Haroun confirms that hospitals in Lebanon need funding, as treating the war-wounded is very expensive, and the wounded who arrive at hospitals suffer from unprecedentedly large injuries, and this requires the presence of a number of surgeons from different specializations in one operation.
Pointing out that the Lebanese Minister of Health is making a tremendous effort to secure liquidity for hospitals, but the financial situation of the country as a whole is weak, and therefore the money that reaches the hospitals is insufficient to keep up with a war of this kind, and therefore the medical sector is living day after day and no one knows what will happen. Which will happen in the later stage.
Gaza scenario
Haroun stressed that so far there has been no collapse in the medical sector in Lebanon, and hospitals are doing their work under pressure and providing services of a good and excellent standard, but this matter may not continue if the war is prolonged, as the ability to withstand may be limited, and Lebanon cannot bear a scenario. GazaTherefore, there must be a cessation of military operations, indicating that there are 125 hospitals in Lebanon, of which 5 hospitals are out of service (4 in the south and one in the Bekaa), while it is difficult to date to estimate and estimate the financial losses of the medical sector, as the country is still at the heart of the crisis. .
For his part, Dr. Fadi Al-Jardali, director of the Center for Policy Rationalization at the American University of Beirut, said in his interview with “Iqtisad Sky News Arabia” website, that the current crisis is not the first crisis witnessed by the hospital medical sector in Lebanon, as the primary care sectors in Lebanon and all the institutions that have It has a relationship with health care, which provides medical services in Lebanon, with a kind of resilience and adaptation, which has enabled it to adapt to any type of developments and disasters that have occurred and are occurring in Lebanon.
Al-Jardali considered that the medical sector in Lebanon is diverse, between the public and private sector, NGO associations, guarantor funds, and others. It is fragmented, but it works in a correct manner and adapts to the crisis with the necessary capabilities. In addition to the current resources, there are initiatives that take place as much as possible, but concern occurs when the crisis lasts and the severity of the damage increases. And injuries, which creates a feeling of unease about the extent of the sector’s ability to withstand, and how hospital institutions can provide the necessary materials and equipment and sufficient beds to receive many cases if they increase, in light of a limited number of human resources and necessary equipment.
According to Al-Jardali, the medical sector in Lebanon is steadfast, but with caution, amid 5 hospitals being out of service and 100 health care centers out of work, which are institutions that were providing health services to citizens, while bearing the burden of more than a million displaced people, a gap in human capabilities, medical equipment and resources, and a lack of the required long-term support that helps the institutions. To withstand.
