BEIRUT (AP) — Lebanon’s crisis-hit health system is now preparing for the possibility of a wider, devastating conflict with Israel, the health minister told The Associated Press in an interview Monday.
The Israeli army and the powerful Lebanese Hezbollah group have mutual blows Since the start of the current war in Gaza, tensions have been rising since the Israeli raid on a Beirut suburb. Killing of a senior Hezbollah leader Last month, Hezbollah vowed to respond.
Amid diplomatic maneuvers to de-escalate tensions, Lebanon’s caretaker government is trying to prepare for the worst with a torn budget, a deeply divided parliament and an absent president.
“The Lebanese health system has had to adapt to multiple crises,” said caretaker Health Minister Firass Abiad. Health facilities have cut costs by keeping stocks to a minimum, leaving a little in reserve for emergencies, he said. A four-month stockpile of essential supplies has now been built up, he added.
“We hope that all the efforts we are making to prepare for this emergency will be in vain” and that a wider war will be avoided, Abiad said. “The best we can hope for is for all this to turn out to be unnecessary.”
In Gaza, the health system has been devastated. Abiad said Lebanese health authorities were taking the possibility that hospitals could be targeted in a wider conflict “very seriously.”
He said nearly two dozen medics and health workers in southern Lebanon had already been killed in Israeli strikes, including medics from Hezbollah and allied medical groups that had filled gaps in areas with limited government services.
Israeli strikes have reached deep into Lebanon in recent weeks, with the sound of warplanes shaking Beirut. Much of the border area has been reduced to rubble.
The Mediterranean country’s health sector was once known as one of the best in the region. But Lebanon has faced Complex crises Since 2019, including a financial crisis following decades of corruption and mismanagement. Other challenges include the COVID-19 pandemic, the 2020 crisis, and the sovereign debt crisis. Beirut Port Explosion This has damaged or destroyed key health care infrastructure and reduced international aid to help Lebanon host more than a million Syrian refugees.
Lebanese hospitals in 2021 were on the verge of collapse, Barely able to keep the lights on and running low on medication.
Abiad said the health sector has shown resilience before, and he hopes it will happen again.
“During the explosion (at the port), the system was able to accommodate more than 6,000 victims within 12 hours,” he said, adding, “I think there is a determination within our health care system to provide the necessary care to all people who need it.”
But resilience may not be enough for the troubled country and its six million people. The financial crisis has left government agencies in the grip of humanitarian organizations that provide them with cash and supplies.
Last week, the Ministry of Health received 32 tons of emergency medical aid from the World Health Organization. But UN agencies and other humanitarian organizations have had to reallocate funds from existing work to provide assistance to some 100,000 people who have fled southern Lebanon since the current war in Gaza began.
Abiad said some issues were beyond the ministry’s control, including securing fuel for electricity and gasoline for ambulances, as well as supporting the nearly 800,000 Syrian refugees registered with the United Nations in the country.
Abiad said that health care resources are not sufficient for refugees in particular: “The international community must assume its responsibilities and contribute to this issue in particular.”