As Lebanon’s economic crisis worsens, health centers need international donors for medical supplies to serve their patients.
The COVID-19 pandemic has been a catastrophe for Lebanon. Hospitals across the country have reported major shortages in personal protective equipment (PPE). Medical and health centers have been struggling to keep up with demand while the economic crisis has made it harder to find or buy essential supplies and medicines.
As a result, there has been a higher risk of infection, putting patients and healthcare providers at greater risk.
Thanks to a donation from our partner Americares, Anera recently delivered PPE supplies to Saida Governmental Hospital and other local health care centers across Lebanon. Americares is an international non-profit organization dedicated to providing assistance in health and medical development to people affected by crisis, disaster or poverty. The donation also included exam gloves and N95 masks and other essential supplies and equipment.
Since the onset of Lebanon’s economic crisis in 2019, the medical community has faced numerous challenges to obtain what’s needed to provide quality services. The situation is especially dire in Saida, the third largest city in Lebanon and the capital of the southern region.
Four out of ten households in Saida are reported to be in debt. Three out of ten families spend more than they earn. The job rate in the area is low and basic infrastructure is in bad shape.
More and more Lebanese are seeking a future outside the country. WHO Director Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus says Lebanon’s brain drain is negatively impacting the health sector.
Lebanon’s highly respected state-of-the-art medical system is now among the region’s weakest. Doctors and nurses are emigrating abroad to find better pay and a safer, more sustainable future for their families.
In recent months, Saida Governmental Hospital has had to ask patients to purchase their own medication because the hospital could no longer afford to keep up supplies. Salaries have been cut for hospital workers. Employees have not been paid for months. Most staff can’t even reach the hospital because of the fuel crisis. There is some fear the public hospital may have to close.
Access to healthcare, electricity, fuel, food and water have all become increasingly scarce for more than half Lebanon’s population. The only way for health centers like Saida Hospital and others to survive the crisis depends heavily on support and donations from international organizations like Anera and its partners. The timely delivery of Americares’ much-needed medical supplies will help save lives.
