Lebanon: main hospital closing wards

Written by David Fletcher 09 Jul 2020
Lebanon: main hospital closing wards

The main coronavirus hospital in Lebanon has been forced to close operating rooms and delay surgeries amid lengthy power cuts caused by a spiralling economic crisis. Dr Firass Abiad said Lebanon’s largest public healthcare facility was ‘barely making ends meet’ and running out of fuel to power generators for power cuts now lasting 15 hours. Despite soaring summer temperatures the hospital has turned off air-conditioning units in the administrative offices and in the corridors to ensure wards and intensive care units can be cooled, as they treat over 90% of the country’s two thousand confirmed coronavirus cases. He warned that if the crippling power cuts continue, the hospital would have just enough fuel to man the generators for three weeks. The crisis at the hospital is part of the fallout of an unprecedented financial crisis and deteriorating economic conditions in the country.

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