BEIRUT (AP): The death is hidden in the corridors of Rafik Hariri University Hospital in Beirut, where losing several patients in one day against COVID-19 has become the new normal. On Friday, the staff mood was even more solemn as a young woman lost the battle against the virus.
There was a silence as the woman, barely thirty years old, took her last breath. Then a brief commotion. The nurses frantically tried to resuscitate her. Finally, exhausted, they silently removed the oxygen mask and tubes and covered the body with a brown blanket.
The woman, whose name is being retained for privacy reasons, is one of 57 victims who died on Friday and more than 2,150 have lost the virus so far in Lebanon, a small country with nearly 6 million people since last year it has clashed. with the worst economic and financial crisis in its modern history.
In recent weeks, Lebanon has experienced a dramatic increase in virus cases, following the holiday season, when restrictions were eased and thousands of expats flew home for a visit.
Now, hospitals across the country are almost completely out of bed. Oxygen tanks, fans and, most critically, medical staff are extremely scarce.. Doctors and nurses say they are exhausted. Many of his colleagues marched in the face of the burnout.
Many others have caught the virus, forcing them to take medical leave and leaving fewer and fewer colleagues to work overtime to load the load.
In each bed that is released after a death, three or four patients wait in the emergency room waiting for the place.
Mohammed Darwish, a hospital nurse, said he works six days a week to help increase hospitalizations and barely sees his family.
“She is OK. It’s a health sector that’s not good today, “said Darwish.
More than 2,300 Lebanese health workers have been infected since February and about 500 of Lebanon’s 14,000 doctors have left the country in crisis in recent months, according to the Order of Physicians. The virus puts an additional burden on a public health system that was already on the brink due to the country’s falling currency and inflation, as well as the aftermath of the massive explosion in the port of Beirut last summer. . which killed nearly 200 people, injured thousands and devastated entire sectors of the city.
“Our sense is that the country is falling apart,” World Bank Regional Director Saroj Kumar Jha told reporters at a virtual press conference on Friday.
At Rafik Hariri University Hospital, the main government coronavirus facility, there are currently 40 beds in the ICU, all full. According to the World Health Organization, hospitals in Beirut have a capacity of 98%.
Across the city, the private American University Medical Center (one of Lebanon’s largest and most prestigious hospitals) is clearing space to accommodate more patients.
But that’s not enough, according to Dr. Pierre Boukhalil, head of the lung and critical care department. His staff was clearly overwhelmed during a recent visit by The Associated Press, which jumped from one patient to another amid the constant sound of life control machines.
The situation “can only be described as an impending disaster or an ongoing tsunami,” he said, speaking to the PA between the two patients. “We have constantly increased capacity over the past week or so and we are not even up to date with the demands. That’s not letting go. ”
Boukhalil Hospital raised the alarm last week and came out with a statement saying its health workers were overwhelmed and unable to find beds for “even the most critical patients.”
Since the start of the holiday season, daily infections have hovered around 5,000 in Lebanon, up from nearly 1,000 in November. The daily death toll exceeded 60 deaths in recent days.
Doctors say that with an increase in evidence, the number of cases has also increased, a common trend. Lebanon’s vaccination program will begin next month.
The World Bank said Thursday it approved $ 34 million to help pay for vaccines for Lebanon that will inoculate more than 2 million people.
Jha, the World Bank’s regional director, said Lebanon will import 1.5 million doses of Pfizer vaccines for 750,000 people that “we are fully funding”. He added that the World Bank also plans to help fund non-Pfizer vaccines in the Mediterranean nation.
Darwish, the nurse, said many COVID-19 patients admitted to Rafik Hariri and especially the ICU are young, with no underlying conditions or chronic illnesses.
“They take a crown and think everything is fine and all of a sudden you find that the patient is deteriorating and you hit them suddenly and unfortunately they die.”
On Thursday night, Sabah Miree, 65, was admitted to hospital with respiratory problems. She was given oxygen to help her breathe. Her two sisters had also caught the virus, but her case was mild. Miree, who suffers from a heart problem, had to be hospitalized.
“This disease is not a game,” he said, describing what his struggle is to keep breathing. “I would tell everyone to pay attention and not take this lightly.”
A nationwide curfew imposed on January 14 was extended from Thursday to February 8 to help the healthcare sector cope with the rise of the virus.
“I still have nightmares when I see a 30-year-old boy who died,” Dr. Boukhalil said. “The disease could have been prevented.”
“So stay with the lock … it’s worth it,” he said.