HEALTH
Donation Brings Pain Relief to Children with Cancer
Medical aid is increasingly vital in Lebanon
After the devastating Beirut port explosion, life for people in Lebanon has continued to deteriorate. The destruction, coupled with COVID-19 and the grave economic crisis, has left many medical centers in Lebanon facing major financial problems.
The Children’s Cancer Center of Lebanon (CCCL) is no exception. All children admitted to the nonprofit association are treated entirely free of charge, regardless of race, sex, ethnicity, religion or nationality. CCCL relies entirely on donations to operate. In the wake of the blast, CCCL has worked closely with pediatric oncologists in hospitals across Lebanon to make sure that all child cancer patients are receiving the treatments they need without any delay while CCCL covers their bills.
When Health Partners International of Canada (HPIC) recently donated a shipment of 303 acetaminophen injections, Anera determined to respond to the needs of CCCL and their young patients by fulfilling all of their needs for acetaminophen.
This common pain relief medication is crucial for CCCL, since physicians use it to control the pain many children experience as a result of cancer.
Cancer patients need to receive pain medication on a fixed schedule to manage their discomfort. However, physicians can also prescribe a dose of an additional medication, such as acetaminophen, that can be taken as needed along with the regular fixed-schedule medicine to control pain that occurs between doses.
To date, CCCL has treated more than 2,000 children with cancer in AUBMC and other hospitals in Lebanon, and provided outpatient consultation services to 5,000 patients referred from across Lebanon and the wider region. Their exceptional quality of care has resulted in an average cure rate of 80% for their young patients.
