BEIRUT (AP) – Death follows the corridors of Rafik Hariri University Hospital in Beirut, where the loss of several patients in one day in front of COVID-19 has become the new normal. On Friday, the mood of the staff was even more solemn, as a young woman lost the battle with the virus.
There was silence as the woman, just over 30 years old, took her last breath. Then a brief agitation. 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 held for confidentiality, 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 a population of nearly 6 million. since last year, it has struggled with the worst economic and financial crisis in its modern history.
In recent weeks, Lebanon has seen a dramatic increase in virus cases after the holiday season, when restrictions were eased and thousands of expats flew home for a visit.
Now, hospitals across the country are almost completely without beds. Oxygen tanks, fans and, most critically, medical staff are extremely few. Doctors and nurses say they are exhausted. Faced with exhaustion, many of their colleagues left.
Many others caught the virus, forcing them to take sick leave and leaving fewer and fewer colleagues to work overtime to carry the burden.
At each bed that is released after a death, three or four patients wait in the emergency room and wait to be replaced.
Mohammed Darwish, a hospital nurse, said he works six days a week to help growing hospitals and can barely see his family.
“It’s tiring. It’s a health sector that’s not good at all these days,” Darwish said.
More than 2,300 Lebanese health workers have been infected since February and about 500 of the 14,000 Lebanese doctors have left the country in crisis in recent months, according to the Doctors’ Order. The virus puts an additional burden on a public health system that was already on the verge of collapse due to the country’s currency collapse and inflation, as well as the consequences of the massive explosion in the port of Beirut last summer. which killed nearly 200 people, injured thousands and devastated entire parts of the city.
“Our meaning is that the country is falling apart,” Saroj Kumar Jha, the World Bank’s regional director, told reporters at a virtual news conference on Friday.
At Rafik Hariri University Hospital, the main government coronavirus unit, there are currently 40 beds in the ICU – all full. According to the World Health Organization, hospitals in Beirut have a capacity of 98%.
Beyond the city, at the Medical Center of the private American University – one of the largest and most prestigious hospitals in Lebanon – the space is cleared to accommodate more patients.
But this is 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, jumping from one patient to another amid the constant beep of life monitoring machines.
The situation “can only be described as an imminent disaster or an ongoing tsunami,” he said, speaking to the PA between checking on his patients. “We have constantly increased capacity in the last week and that’s about it and we don’t even keep up with the requirements. This is not a disappointment. ”
Boukhalil’s hospital sounded the alarm last week, saying in a statement that its health workers were overwhelmed and could not find beds for “even the most critical patients.”
Since the start of the holiday season, daily infections have risen to around 5,000 in Lebanon, from almost 1,000 in November. The daily death toll has risen to more than 60 deaths in recent days.
Doctors say that with the increase in testing, the number of cases has also increased – a common trend. Lebanon’s vaccination program will begin next month.
The World Bank said on Thursday it had approved $ 34 million to help pay for vaccines for Lebanon, which will inoculate more than 2 million people.
Jha, the World Bank’s regional director, said Lebanon will import 1.5 million doses of Pfizer vaccine for 750,000 people that we “fully fund.” He added that the World Bank intends to help fund vaccines other than Pfizer in the Mediterranean nation.
Darwish, the nurse, said that many COVID-19 patients admitted to Rafik Hariri and especially to the ICU are young, without underlying conditions or chronic diseases.
“I grab the crown and I think everything is fine and then, suddenly, you discover that the patient is deteriorating and suddenly hits them and, unfortunately, they die”
On Thursday night, 65-year-old Sabah Miree was hospitalized with breathing problems. She was given oxygen to help her breathe. Her two sisters also caught the virus, but their case was easy. Miree, who suffers from a heart problem, had to be hospitalized.
“This disease is not a game,” she said, describing what a struggle it is for her to keep breathing. “I would tell everyone to be careful and not take this lightly.”
A nationwide shutdown imposed on January 14 was extended from Thursday to February 8 to help the health sector cope with the rise in the virus.
“I still have nightmares when I see a 30-year-old man who died,” said Dr. Boukhalil. “The disease could have been prevented.”
“So stay with the lock … it’s worth it,” he said.