MADRID 4 Oct. (EUROPA PRESS) –
The NGO Doctors Without Borders (MSF) has warned this Friday that the populations displaced by the increase in Israeli bombings in Lebanon, especially in the south of the country, are “very vulnerable” and need “urgent” medical and psychosocial care.
“Children, women, the elderly, the disabled who live in conditions of limited access to drinking water, sanitation and basic health care services,” warned the NGO’s medical coordinator in Lebanon, Luna Hammad, adding that “the needs are enormous.” .
Hammad has highlighted that people are fleeing home without their belongings due to Israeli bombings. MSF teams have cared for patients with chronic illnesses who have not been able to take their medications and who have not received adequate medical care.
“We are also seeing cases of mental health disorders and complications due to poor living conditions and fear of bombing. There is a critical need for psychosocial and mental health support,” he explained, adding that many displaced people are minors who have to deal with the consequences of violence.
Doctors Without Borders has expanded its emergency response in Lebanon and has launched mobile medical teams that have already been able to carry out more than 1,700 general medicine consultations during the last week, according to a statement sent by the organization.
The NGO was forced to close one of the two primary care clinics it has in the Baalbek-Hermel governorate due to intense shelling. The same happened with its facilities in Burj al Barajné, south of the capital, Beirut.
Despite this, MSF continues to provide essential medicines for patients with chronic diseases. The NGO has also distributed more than 6,500 hygiene kits, more than 16,100 liters of drinking water, as well as more than 600 mattresses, almost 700 blankets and 7,000 liters of fuel to Lebanese hospitals.
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