in Lebanon’s hospitals, “we are preparing for war as if it were tomorrow”

On the fourth floor of the building, located in the southern suburbs of Beirut, the capital, the traditional reception room of the ministry has changed decor. In place of the podium, a wall of screens, cards, and, in the center of the room, a rectangular table on which employees receive and sort all data that comes back in real time from hospitals across the country. NOTshadow of dead, injured, nationality of victims, their sex, their age… In blue, private establishments; in red, those in the public sector.

Since the resumption of clashes on the border with Israel in southern Lebanon in October, the Ministry of Health has reactivated an emergency plan to prepare, “in case”, to a larger conflict with the Jewish state. As of January 16, 147 people were killed and 650 injured, according to figures obtained by franceinfo from the Ministry of Health. Civilians of course, and fighters from Hezbollah, the Lebanese Shiite movement. In mid-January, around a hundred people were also hospitalized.

Within the crisis unit, no one seems to be paying attention to the television channels broadcasting live images of the new destruction in the south of the country. On the right, a green histogram lists the number of deaths, day by day. The deadliest so far: October 23, with 34 victims.

“We usually”

In three months, in Lebanon, more than 3,000 members of the healthcare staff, nurses and doctors, have been specially trained in war injuries. The Ministry of Health also carried out an inventory of more than 130 hospitals. “We checked blood reserves, the state of the operating rooms, team qualificationsummary Wahida Ghalayini. We are on continuous alert. We are preparing for war. Maybe it’s even tomorrow.”

And all scenarios are anticipated. If Beirut is bombed, the injured will have to be sent to hospitals in the north of the country, for example. “I shouldn’t say that, but we’re used to itestimates the coordinator of the crisis unit, by readjusting his glasses. We draw on the experience of the war in the summer of 2006, which lasted 33 days. At the time, Israel had divided Lebanon into several parts. So this time, we’re preparing for it. Hospital directors are told: ‘If you have to fend for yourself, if we can’t help you, this is what you will have to do.'”

At the end of the corridor, the Minister of Health is watching. Firas Abiad provides the Prime Minister with an update every evening. Like all members of the Lebanese government, he listens attentively to everyone’s comments on the state of the threat. Like Din early January, when Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu “suggested that Hezbollah learns what Hamas has already learned in recent months: no terrorist is safe. We are determined to defend our citizens and ensure that northerners return home safely “.

Hospitals in crash test mode

Particular attention is paid to health centers located in areas where the bombings, and therefore the victims, are concentrated. In Sidon, considered the gateway to southern Lebanon, the Hammoud hospital organized a full-scale exercise at the beginning of December. For three hours, staff simulated the arrival of a large number of victims in the emergency room. In the role of the wounded, scouts. To imitate injuries, a professional makeup artist. But for the rest, “Everyone played their roletells a witness to franceinfo. Paramedics, doctors, surgeons, nurses, midwives, room attendants, security personnel…”.