Author: Libyan Gazette Editorial Staff
MSF Bringing medical relief to Tripoli hospitals
Libya’s continuing political conflict has left the healthcare system in shatters with 60 per cent of hospitals closed and many operating on a reduced schedule due to damage and lack of resources.
After visiting a site in Libya, Dr. Mego Terzian, president of Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) France, stated that humanitarian workers perceive the security situation in Libya to be unstable which has contributed to many doctors and nurses leaving after 2014.
Terzian stated that while the fighting was localized to a few areas, the conflict between the tripoli based government in the west which has now handed power to the new UN-backed Government of National Accord (GNA) and the House of Representatives (HOR) based in the eastern city of Tobruk, who has not yet backed the GNA, is making it difficult to deliver medical supplies and healthcare workers into the field.
Many hospitals in the east, including in Benghazi, Derna, and ISIS held Sirte,where daily fighting is taking place, has led to the departure of healthcare workers and the closure of hospitals in those areas.
Many Libyans are looking towards anyone who can help them, however, despite the deterioration of the healthcare system, very few aid organizations other than MSF are providing assistance.
As long as the HOR continues to delay its support of the GNA, the deteriorating health care situation will remain.
