Father of girl with cancer says crisis in Lebanon is hitting hospitals and food supplies: ‘There’s no money and no work’
The economic crisis in Lebanon is never-ending and now it’s ravaging the hospitals where medicines are running out.
On the oncology outpatients ward we meet four-year-old Rudayana.
She is fighting leukaemia but she still finds the strength to wipe a tear from her father Fawaz’s eyes.
The problems in healthcare are a symptom of much wider crisis
He kneels beside her with his head in his hands.
It is a portrait of desolation.
Making sure she has enough medication has left him at breaking point.
“I feel despair but at the same time, I get up every day for her,” he tells me.
Rudayana is fighting leukaemia, but there is not always enough medicine
“We have just about 10% of the minimum needs for our daily life. You can’t put her in school, get her medicine, or do anything for her.
“You can’t even guarantee her nutritious food to help her after chemo. There’s no money and no work.”
In the next bed at the Rafik Hariri University Hospital, Beirut, another family is facing the same struggle.
Helen Kazazian was diagnosed with ovarian cancer four months ago and worries there won’t be the drugs to finish her treatment.
She’s had four sessions of chemotherapy so far, but still has two left.
“Sometimes the doctor said ‘Inshallah, Helen you will get it’.
“We don’t know, we have to go and see, I have to go, or Robert [her husband] by myself to see if they will give us the medicine, or not yet. This time it was ok, thank God”
Helen Kazazian, and her husband Robert, are worried she will not get her medicine
Lebanon used to rank highly for medical care but standards have plummeted, along with a currency which has lost 90% of its value, making essentials unaffordable – the state is badly in debt, inflation is rampant and unemployment is becoming normal.
We visit the hospital’s pharmacy and the empty shelves tell their own story.
Even drugs like penicillin are in short supply.
But the crisis affecting the healthcare system is really a symptom of a much wider crisis, or series of crises, compounded by corruption and bad governance.
For doctors on the frontline it is like walking through an abyss every day.
Head of oncology, Dr Issam Chehade, says the problems are getting worse, with drug shortages and patients not receiving care in his department.
Dr Issam Chehade says the problems are getting worse
Step outside the hospital and there’s no escaping this crisis.
It has the country in a vice-like grip.
On the way across town to a private hospital, to see if the situation is any better, we pass the endless fuel queues.
People wait in their cars in the sweltering Mediterranean sun for a few gallons.
Some are turned away before they manage to fill up.
It’s estimated by the United Nations that 78% of Lebanon’s population is now living in poverty, leaving some scavenging for whatever they can find.
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July: Lebanon plunged into economic crisis
The number of people rooting through bins, or begging on the streets is growing all the time.
But it doesn’t matter what walk of life you are from, for everyone survival is difficult.
And when we arrive at St George hospital we find there are no exceptions.
Retired pharmacist Dickran Kaprelian has a type of blood cancer.
The drugs he was on have run out and he’s now starting a different treatment.
His wife Mary is also sick with ovarian cancer.
“The medication he takes doesn’t exist anymore – I don’t know, that’s what they say so they just switched to another medication so we’ll see what will be the result,” she said.
Mary Kaprelian and her husband Dickran both have cancer
“We are fighting for everything – even a little bit of breath. Even if we want to eat, even if we want to go somewhere we don’t have gasoline.
“It’s [a] very very bad situation. I don’t think any country [has] such a state like we do – that’s what I think.”
What’s happening here has left many questioning their future.
Already many medics have emigrated – acute staff shortages add to the list of problems.
In this economic crisis, the worst for more than 100 years, even the hospitals have now become casualties.
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A woman has been arrested after 12 people were reportedly injured in a stabbing at Hamburg’s central train station in Germany.
An attacker armed with a knife targeted people on the platform between tracks 13 and 14, according to police.
They added that the suspect was a 39-year-old woman.
Police at the scene. Pic: AP
Officers said they “believe she acted alone” and investigations into the stabbing are continuing.
There was no immediate information on a possible motive.
The fire service said six of the injured were in a life-threatening condition, three others were seriously hurt, and another three sustained minor injuries, news agency dpa reported.
The attack happened shortly after 6pm local time (5pm UK time) on Friday in front of a waiting train, regional public broadcaster NDR reported.
A high-speed ICE train with its doors open could be seen at the platform after the incident.
Railway operator Deutsche Bahn said it was “deeply shocked” by what had happened.
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Four tracks at the station were closed in the evening, and some long-distance trains were delayed or diverted.
Hamburg is Germany‘s second biggest city, with the train station being a hub for local, regional and long-distance trains.
In mid-May, the World Health Organisation assessed that there were “nearly half a million people in a catastrophic situation of hunger, acute malnutrition, starvation, illness and death”.
“This is one of the world’s worst hunger crises, unfolding in real time,” its report concluded.
Warning: This article contains images of an emaciated child which some readers may find distressing
Israel‘s decision this week to reverse the siege and allow “a basic level of aid” into Gaza should help ease the immediate crisis.
But the number of aid trucks getting in, so far fewer than 100 per day, is considered dramatically too few by aid organisations working in Gaza, and the United Nations accuses Israel of continuing to block vital items.
Israel-Gaza latest: Gaza enduring ‘atrocious death and destruction’, UN boss warns
“Strict quotas are being imposed on the goods we distribute, along with unnecessary delay procedures,” said UN secretary general Antonio Guterres in New York on Friday.
“Essentials, including fuel, shelter, cooking gas and water purification supplies, are prohibited. Nothing has reached the besieged north.”
Nineteen of Gaza’s hospitals remain operational, all of them are overwhelmed with the number of patients and a lack of supplies.
Baby Aya at Rantisi hospital in northern Gaza is dangerously thin
“Today, we receive between 300 to 500 cases daily, with approximately 10% requiring admission. This volume of inpatient cases far exceeds the capacity of Rantisi hospital, as the facility is not equipped to accommodate such large numbers,” Jall al Barawi, a doctor at the hospital, told us.
At least 94% of the hospitals have sustained some damage, some considerable, according to the UN.
Jall al Barawi, a doctor at Rantisi hospital
Paramedic crews are close to running out of fuel to drive ambulances.
The lack of food, after an 11-week blockade, has left thousands malnourished and increasingly vulnerable to surviving injuries or recovering from other conditions.
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Children are the worst affected.
Our team in Gaza filmed with baby Aya at the Rantisi hospital in northern Gaza. She is now three months old and dangerously thin.
Her skin stretches over her cheekbones and eye sockets on her gaunt, pale face. Her nappy is too big for her emaciated little body.
Aya’s nappy is too big for her emaciated little body.
Lethal spiral
Her mother Sundush, who is only 19 herself, cannot get enough food to produce breastmilk. Baby formula is scarce.
Aya, like so many other young children, cannot get the vital nutrition she needs to grow and develop.
It’s a lethal spiral.
This is what Aya looked like shortly after she was born
“My daughter was born at a normal weight, 3.5kg,” Sundush tells us.
“But as the war went on, her weight dropped significantly. I would breastfeed her, she’d get diarrhoea. I tried formula – same result. With the borders closed and no food coming in, I can’t eat enough to give her the nutrients she needs.”
“I brought her to the hospital for treatment, but the care she needs isn’t available.
“The doctor said her condition is very serious. I really don’t want to lose her, because I lost my husband and she’s all I have left of him. I don’t want to lose her.”
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Aya and her mother Sundush
Some of the aid entering Gaza now is being looted. It is hard to know whether that is by Hamas or desperate civilians. Maybe a combination of the two.
The lack of aid creates an atmosphere of desperation, which eventually leads to a breakdown in security as everyone fights to secure food for themselves and their families.
Only by alleviating the desperation can the security situation improve, and the risk of famine abate.
World
Police launch ‘major operation’ after 12 people injured in knife attack at Hamburg train station
Twelve people are reported to have been injured after a knife attack at Hamburg’s central train station.
A “major operation” has been launched and a suspect was arrested, police said in a post on X.
The identity of the suspect has not been revealed.
Reports in Germany said the suspected attacker was a woman.
The fire service said six of the injured were in a life-threatening condition, three others were seriously hurt, and another three sustained minor injuries, news agency dpa reported.
Bild newspaper said the motive for the attack was so far unknown.
Hamburg is Germany’s second biggest city, with the train station being a hub for local, regional and long-distance trains.
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