Lebanon’s hospitals are on the front lines amid ongoing violence of war

BEIRUT (OSV News) — In Lebanon, hospitals and the health care sector have become the front and center of attention — and an imminent target — following the most recent bout of violence due to heavy clashes in southern Lebanon between Israeli troops and Hezbollah fighters.

The country’s health ministry said that 34 hospitals have been damaged by Israeli strikes, leaving thousands of Lebanese in health care limbo in the midst of war, when every bed in a medical unit counts.

As Thanksgiving approached, the U.S. administration was pushing Israel to reach a cease-fire deal with the Lebanese militia, even as key details remained unresolved, Israeli officials told The New York Times.

Over 3,500 Lebanese have died in Israeli strikes, the country’s health ministry said, and 15,000 were injured in the 14th month of the Israel-Hezbollah battleground — which is part of Israel-Hamas war focusing on the Gaza Strip, but long spread across the region.

OSV News was given unique access to two of Beirut’s largest hospitals, Mount Lebanon Hospital and the American University of Beirut Medical Center to further understand the current pressures.

Mount Lebanon Hospital was founded in 1995 by Dr. Mikhael Gharios. “At the time hospitals in Lebanon were of a high standard and used to operating at times of crisis — during this period the civil war was rumbling on in the background,” Gharios explained to OSV News.

However they were “run by those from the old school, those reluctant to change. Cancer treatments were advancing but there was no radiotherapy treatment available in Lebanon — I decided to change that,” he said.

Mount Lebanon Hospital now includes over 800 medical professionals and is widely recognized as one of the most advanced hospitals in Beirut. The hospital, despite being founded by a Maronite Catholic, admits those from all corners of society.

The doctor estimated that the hospital took in 15 injured members of Hezbollah at the beginning of October following the pager blasts. On Sept. 17 and 18, pagers used by hundreds of members of Hezbollah exploded almost simultaneously in Lebanon and Syria, killing at least 32 people, including two children, and injuring thousands more injured. The Iran-backed militant group blamed Israel for the deadly explosions, according to news reports.

“As the pager buzzed he lifted the device up to his face to read the message and seconds later it detonated,” explained a nurse, whose name has been withheld for safety reasons. She made the comments as OSV News visited a room in Mount Lebanon’s intensive care unit where a member of Hezbollah injured by the pager blast was being treated. The man has lost both his hands, his eyeballs were ruptured, and he is in a coma from which he is unlikely to ever recover.

Gharios, a charismatic figure, showed little love toward Hezbollah and its allies in Iran. “The Iranians are cowards. They claim to be on the side of the revolution but despite the death and destruction in Lebanon they have done nothing. Military intervention that the Iranians promised is nowhere to be seen,” he said.

But his political views don’t affect the treatment of Hezbollah members in his hospital.

“You cannot put a price on humanity. I have never been able to turn down a patient. No matter where they come from or what they have done,” the doctor said.

As OSV News was leaving the ICU unit, visiting hours for patients began and the man’s family, hailing from a Shia sect of Islam, came to visit. The nurse told OSV News: “His family come here every day, talk to him and pray by his bedside. They understand the reality of his situation. It is hard not to have a level of sympathy regardless of what he (the Hezbollah member) believes in. We are all humans after all.”

For doctors and nurses, dealing with trauma and death have become a part of everyday life during times of war. Everyone has a different breaking point, but Dr. Salah Zeineldine, chief medical officer at the American University of Beirut Medical Center, explained that this is generally “when people lose hope. If people see themselves as making less money but only for a few months then they swallow it. But if they don’t see light at the end of the tunnel then it becomes a lot harder to see a future in the country.”

For Zeineldine, the biggest worry is about physicians who work at the hospital, who, due to people’s exodus from the region, have fewer visits from patients and less pay.

“If physicians don’t see patients, then they don’t get paid. At the moment the hospital employs over 300 physicians and they are not seeing more than five patients per day when they would normally be seeing 20 per day. We will likely see another mass exodus like we did during COVID-19 if there is no cease fire by Christmas,” he said.

Zeineldine’s dedication to his profession and country is visible in the necklace and bracelet he wears. Both bear a map of Lebanon. During the COVID-19 crisis, AUBMC only had enough fuel for a period of two days and was unable to acquire new medical supplies, even on the black market, said Zeineldine. He recalled telling a local journalist at the time: “I am going to stay here until my last breath.”

Fighting back tears, he continued, “Now is time to pay my dues back to my country, my people. I am not someone that abandons trenches and runs away from problems.”

Both Mount Lebanon Hospital and AUBMC are privately owned with the majority of the funding coming from private sources, but Zeineldine told OSV News that the government has pledged financial support, which will cover “an estimated 20% of expenses for the past year.”

He added: “We always take those with life-threatening conditions and they are not discharged until they are in a stable condition. We take care of the individual first and worry about the financial implications second.”

Just because a hospital is privately owned and operated doesn’t mean it has all the funds it needs, Zeineldine explained. “If we operated like a true business and profit was our primary objective then our financial situation would look very different,” he said. “Our board of trustees in the U.S. recently had to mobilize endowments due to the funding shortage. That is far from being a sign that this business is awash with cash.”

Like many Lebanese, Gharios could have chosen an easier life.

“If I wanted, I could have Monaco in the palm of my hand,” he said. He turns to his own family’s history to explain why Lebanon is not a country that he can turn his back on.

“My family has been here for over 2,000 years,” he told OSV News.

But there is a line that he as a Christian will not cross.

“I will not pick up a gun and fight,” he said, returning to his patients and the everyday battle for their lives.

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