Ivana Likbiri, an 18-month-old Lebanese child who acquired 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 enjoying together with her older sister on the balcony of their dwelling one latest morning when Israel’s airstrikes got here.
In a flash, the wooden terrace the 2 little women have been enjoying on went up in flames.
“I don’t know what divine power stuffed me, however I grabbed my women from the fireplace and threw them over the balcony to save lots of them,” says Ivana’s mom, Fatima Zayoun.
Zayoun’s time is now spent between two hospitals the place her daughters are receiving remedy for extreme burns. On at the present time, 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 following day, Zayoun will swap locations together with her husband, who has been on the bedside of their 7-year-old Raha. She’s recovering at a special 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 at the moment are amongst Lebanon’s 1.2 million displaced individuals who have needed to flee their properties 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 dwelling when it occurred; his complete household died within the strike apart from him and his mom, who can also be hospitalized there.
Ali Khara for NPR
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Ali Khara for NPR
Some have settled into new properties in new neighborhoods, others are taking shelter in colleges 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 truly stay,” 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 residence. 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 battle ends. All the great recollections from their life there are overshadowed by the horrors of the airstrike.
Lebanon’s solely burn unit
Ivana is certainly one of 22 sufferers being handled within the burn unit of the Geitaoui Hospital in Beirut. It’s a personal medical middle with the solely burn unit in Lebanon. Solely essentially 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.
“Day-after-day we get calls from hospitals all around the nation to switch sufferers, however we are able to’t settle for all people due to the massive move of sufferers,” says Dr. Ziad Sleiman, one of many hospital’s plastic and reconstructive surgeons. “We’ve to decide on essentially the most sophisticated instances and switch away the others.”
Obtainable beds are simply a part of the wrestle.
Medical workers have fled, whereas some have been hit
Among the medical workers have misplaced their properties in airstrikes and are among the many displaced, taking time without work to select up the items of their very own lives.
“We’ve transferred workers from different wards and we’re actively coaching them on tips on how to 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 battle, 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 workers left the nation in droves.
Mahmoud Dhaiwi, 23, a Lebanese military soldier who acquired 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 at the moment are within the grips of a battle that has killed greater than 2,500 folks and left nearly 12,000 wounded in Lebanon, in response to 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 navy’s line of fireplace. Greater than 150 medical and emergency staff have been killed in Lebanon since final October, when preventing first broke out between Hezbollah and Israel, in response to Lebanon’s well being minister, Dr. Firass Abiad.
Some take a look at Israel’s battle in Gaza, with hospitals there relentlessly caught within the crossfire and greater than 800 well being care staff killed, in response to 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 below hearth like that. However treating victims of this battle like 18-month-old Ivana Likbiri, recommend something is feasible.
