Ivana Likbiri, an 18-month-old Lebanese child who bought injured throughout an Israeli airstrike in southern Lebanon, is hospitalized at Geitaoui Hospital’s burn unit, in Beirut, on Oct. 18.
Ali Khara for NPR
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Ali Khara for NPR
BEIRUT — Eighteen-month-old Ivana Likbiri was taking part in along with her older sister on the balcony of their house one latest morning when Israel’s airstrikes got here.
In a flash, the wooden terrace the 2 little ladies had been taking part in on went up in flames.
“I don’t know what divine power stuffed me, however I grabbed my ladies from the hearth and threw them over the balcony to avoid wasting them,” says Ivana’s mom, Fatima Zayoun.
Zayoun’s time is now spent between two hospitals the place her daughters are receiving therapy for extreme burns. On today, she’s on the bedside of little Ivana, whose arms, legs, head and face are all wrapped in bandages with solely sufficient room for a pink pacifier to assuage her. The subsequent day, Zayoun will swap locations along with her husband, who has been on the bedside of their 7-year-old Raha. She’s recovering at a distinct hospital that also had open beds when the household made it to Beirut from their village of Deir Qanoun al-Nahr in southern Lebanon.
Zayoun and her household are actually amongst Lebanon’s 1.2 million displaced individuals who have needed to flee their houses as Israel has intensified its airstrikes throughout the nation in its struggle towards the Iran-backed political and militant group Hezbollah.
On the opposite facet of the window, a nurse checks on her 11-year-old affected person, Mohamed, from southern Lebanon, at Geitaoui Hospital in Beirut, Oct. 18. He was admitted to the hospital after being severely burned in an Israeli assault. He was at house when it occurred; his total household died within the strike aside from him and his mom, who can be hospitalized there.
Ali Khara for NPR
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Ali Khara for NPR
Some have settled into new houses in new neighborhoods, others are taking shelter in faculties or nightclubs. Zayoun has no concept the place her household will find yourself.
“I’ve solely been between the 2 hospitals and don’t know the place we’re going to really dwell,” she says, reflecting on how she had deliberate to evacuate her household the morning of the Sept. 23 strike proper after they completed breakfast. “We don’t have a spot, we don’t have an condo. I’m simply exhausted and I really feel damaged and numb.”
All she’s sure of at this second is that her household won’t ever return to the village they fled, not even after the struggle ends. All the nice recollections from their life there are overshadowed by the horrors of the airstrike.
Lebanon’s solely burn unit
Ivana is one in all 22 sufferers being handled within the burn unit of the Geitaoui Hospital in Beirut. It’s a non-public medical heart with the solely burn unit in Lebanon. Solely probably the most critically injured victims are transferred to the hospital.
With Israel’s airstrikes intensifying, the hospital has greater than doubled its variety of beds, but it surely nonetheless can’t sustain with the unprecedented variety of casualties with extreme burns.
“Every single day we get calls from hospitals everywhere in the nation to switch sufferers, however we will’t settle for all people due to the large circulate of sufferers,” says Dr. Ziad Sleiman, one of many hospital’s plastic and reconstructive surgeons. “We have now to decide on probably the most sophisticated circumstances and switch away the others.”
Accessible beds are simply a part of the battle.
Medical employees have fled, whereas some have been hit
A few of the medical employees have misplaced their houses in airstrikes and are among the many displaced, taking day off to choose up the items of their very own lives.
“We have now transferred employees from different wards and we’re actively coaching them on how you can deal with burns,” says Sleiman, who has labored on the hospital for 20 years and has by no means seen it so overwhelmed and at such a financially susceptible time for the nation.
Earlier than the struggle, Lebanon was already mired in an financial disaster. Years of presidency and banking sector mismanagement led to the collapse of the monetary system in 2019. That triggered extreme shortages of meals, gas and drugs and set off an period of hyperinflation. Well being care prices soared making it tough for folks to get handled for even severe diseases and the salaries of docs and nurses plunged. Medical employees left the nation in droves.
Mahmoud Dhaiwi, 23, a Lebanese military soldier who bought injured throughout an Israeli airstrike in southern Lebanon, is hospitalized at Geitaoui Hospital’s burn unit, in Beirut, Oct. 11.
Ali Khara for NPR
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Ali Khara for NPR
It’s towards that enduring backdrop that hospitals are actually within the grips of a struggle that has killed greater than 2,500 folks and left nearly 12,000 wounded in Lebanon, in accordance with the nation’s Well being Ministry.
And medical staff haven’t been spared.
Clinics, ambulances, and search-and-rescue groups have been caught within the Israeli army’s line of fireplace. Greater than 150 medical and emergency staff have been killed in Lebanon since final October, when combating first broke out between Hezbollah and Israel, in accordance with Lebanon’s well being minister, Dr. Firass Abiad.
Some have a look at Israel’s struggle in Gaza, with hospitals there relentlessly caught within the crossfire and greater than 800 well being care staff killed, in accordance with the United Nations human rights workplace, and surprise in the event that they’re staring down the identical destiny.
Dr. Sleiman can’t fathom having his hospital come underneath hearth like that. However treating victims of this struggle like 18-month-old Ivana Likbiri, counsel something is feasible.
