HEALTH
Anera Donations Help Lebanese Hospitals Treat COVID-19
Delivery of extra breathing devices to Lebanese hospitals can increase ability of patients to survive COVID-19
The COVID-19 pandemic has not spared Lebanon, which is already suffering from a deepening economic and social crisis. Hospitals are overwhelmed and struggling to find and pay for the supplies they need to treat COVID patients.
Anera’s partner Direct Relief has been unsparing with its donations. That has enabled Anera to continue providing critical medicines and equipment to many of Lebanon’s hospitals. Direct Relief, a nonprofit that provides emergency medical assistance, has given Anera a grant to pay for medicines and supplies needed to cope with the COVID-19 outbreak.
So far, Anera has provided American University of Beirut Medical Center (AUBMC) with high-flow nasal cannulas, ICU monitors for the new COVID-19 units at Hotel Dieu de France hospital, and medical supplies worth $16,400 to the Rafik Hariri University Hospital.
“The COVID pandemic took us by storm. Anera’s donation has greatly helped AUBMC during these unstable times. The international community's support has been heartening,” says Muhammad Khatib, who heads the Inhalation Therapy Division at AUBMC.
“The COVID pandemic took us by storm.... The international community's support has been heartening,”
The professor explains that hospitals have had to find alternative treatments for their patients due to the current shortage of oxygen at many hospitals. He says high-flow nasal cannula therapy provides a regulated supply of humidified and heated oxygen to the patient. “This treatment had already been used in our department [for other maladies], but proved to be very effective in treating COVID-19.”
The devices that were donated to AUBMC benefit some 10 COVID and post-COVID patients during their treatment. The donation also eases AUBMC’s financial burden and allows them to focus on securing other critical medical supplies.
Anera’s donation also included monitors essential to tracking vital signs, such as blood pressure, oxygen levels and heart rate, for ICU patients with prolonged hospital stays. Anera has supplied Hotel Dieu Hospital with three monitors that are connected to a central station to allow simultaneous monitoring of multiple patients.
Christine Chehab directs the Executive Clinical Support Units at AUBMC and says the donations are welcome support at a critical time: “It has been a challenging year. We have struggled to keep up with the hospital’s operation. Anera has helped ease our burden.”
