The medical reinforcement comes amid escalating hostilities, a rising number of wounded people and a health-care system struggling with an influx of people in desperate need.
The surgical team, including an emergency room doctor, a surgeon and an anesthetist, is experienced in the unique and destructive injuries caused by weapons of war. They will operate with ICRC’s existing 22-person team out of Rafik Hariri University Hospital in a deployment closely coordinated with the Ministry of Public Health.
A shipment of medical supplies sent by the ICRC to Rafik Hariri University Hospital earlier this month has helped equip and supply the facility’s trauma unit. The shipment will also help a similar unit at Zahle – Elias Hrawi Government Hospital in the Bekaa, where 10 additional ICRC hospital specialists, including nurses and doctors, will soon be deployed.
“This critical assistance provides much necessary relief, but the needs continue to grow significantly,” said Simone Casabianca-Aeschlimann, the head of the ICRC delegation in Lebanon. “While our surgical team and medical supplies will help ease the burden on healthcare providers, sustained and safe humanitarian aid is urgently needed. The humanitarian crisis deepens by the hour.”
The new medical supplies include war surgery kits capable of treating approximately 2,000 critical patients, depending on the severity of their injuries, while water purification supplies can treat 50,000 liters of water. These will be used to assist 19 medical centers across Lebanon in areas affected by conflict and areas where displaced people have relocated to.
The ICRC continues to remind all parties to the conflict that constant care must be taken to spare the civilian population, civilians, and civilian objects in the conduct of military operations. Additionally, under international humanitarian law, medical personnel, units, and transport exclusively assigned to medical duties and purposes must be respected and protected in all circumstances.
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