The head of the Beirut Doctors Syndicate, Sharaf Abu Sharaf, participated in the remote meeting held by the International Lebanese Medical Association, which includes doctors from different parts of the world, as well as representatives of the Saint George Hospital and the Lebanese Hospital - Jeitaoui, which were affected by the explosion of the Beirut port, and the Lebanese army and the The Lebanese Red cross, to discuss ways to help overcome this disaster, which led to hundreds of millions of dollars in material damage, at least 6 thousand wounded hospitalized in the same night, 180 victims, and damage to four hospitals, each of which requires at least 10 million dollars For restoration
In his intervention, Abu Sharaf thanked the medical societies for their solidarity with Lebanon, "which confirmed the ongoing work to collect donations from their countries to send to Lebanon, especially to hospitals, doctors, the Lebanese Red Cross and the army, who made a tremendous effort during the tragedy that befell." He pointed out that "there are 2000 damaged doctors, between physical harm and destroyed clinics," stressing "the need to help them and the nurses quickly, to enable them staying in Lebanon, knowing that some of them began to emigrate. "
He explained, "The Doctors Syndicate has established a crisis committee consisting of heads of medical committees in the affected hospitals and members of the Syndicate Council, which will cooperate with the World Health Organization, the International Red Cross and the World Bank, and has also opened a bank account to receive aid after conducting a field survey on the damages that's affected doctors and their clinics, and a committee will be formed." Especially to distribute this aid with all transparency. "
Regarding the Corona epidemic, he stressed that "there is no need for field hospitals, but financial assistance to rehabilitate government hospitals in the regions, and this is also another way to help doctors to stay in Lebanon. Regarding medical equipment, preparations and medicines, to send them directly to the Ministry of Health for distribution to the concerned authorities, including hospitals and the army.
International participants expressed their fear that "material aid will not go to the right place, because they do not have confidence in the state and its institutions, and they prefer to go to the army or the Red Cross and even to the Doctors Syndicate, when they learned that there is a special account supervised by a number of doctors and representatives of the affected hospitals and from the Council. The meeting hoped that Lebanon would have "a road map for reconstruction, and a health emergency plan. With cooperation, Lebanon can rise like a phoenix, build the country and put it on the right path."
August 16, 2020
Press here to read the original article in Arabic at MTV Lebanons site.