Caretaker Minister of Public Health Dr. Firas Abiad held a press meeting on Wednesday about the public health emergency plan and the Ministry’s preparations in case of an escalation of Israeli attacks on south Lebanon or other Lebanese areas.
Dr. Abiad explained that the Ministry of Public Health, despite its meager resources, launched the plan at the beginning of the attacks to prepare the health sector in five areas, as follows:
– Launching a health emergency room to coordinate various health entities, including hospitals, medicine and supply warehouses, health workers and ambulance crews. It also includes collecting information, conducting surveillance, and calculating resources, whether human resources, medicine or equipment.
– Preparing human resources in health institutions to receive and treat the wounded, ensuring the existence of emergency plans in hospitals. This comes in light of the use of new weapons, foremost of which is phosphorus – which is internationally prohibited.
– Making logistical preparations by procuring war-specific supplies and distributing them, especially in targeted areas, and ensuring the availability of a strategic stockpile, starting with serums, oxygen and energy.
– Coordinating between ambulances and crews involved in transferring patients and responding to emergencies, and establishing a specialized center at the Ministry of Public Health equipped with multiple communication methods.
– Developing a special plan to address the impact of displacement, especially with the potential increase in numbers, in addition to providing treatment and medicine for dialysis, cancer and chronic diseases through mobile teams and units.
