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SAUDI DOCTORS BATTLE FOR HEARTS AND MINDS IN LEBANON
by Haro Chakmakjian
Agence France Presse -- English
October 4, 2006 Wednesday
On the edge of Beirut racetrack, a horseshoe-shaped field hospital
is dispensing free medical care, as Saudi Arabia tries once again to
bankroll a Lebanese revival with hundreds of millions of dollars.
"I like horse-racing but we barely have time to call our families,"
said Saud al-Omani, a British-trained trauma surgeon from Riyadh
who heads a team of 115 doctors and nurses as well as 40 Lebanese
medical staff.
"We are all paid of course," he said, from the petrodollars aplenty
of the Saudi government.
Groups of patients waited in shaded areas complete with seats in
front of 18 air-conditioned containers built as clinics on wheels,
painted in white and with the sign of the Saudi Red Crescent Society.
The medics have been operational since August 5, three weeks into
Israel's 34-day war on the Shiite group Hezbollah that wrought
destruction mostly in south Lebanon and the Shiite southern suburbs
of Beirut, barely a few kilometres (miles) from the hospital.
The Saudi kingdom has been the single biggest aid donor to Lebanon,
comprising a one-billion-dollar deposit with the central bank to
shore up the currency and a grant of 500 million dollars.
It also sponsored the 1989 Taif accord which ended Lebanon's
15-year civil war and gave massive financial support for post-war
reconstruction, especially during the five-time premiership of the
late Rafiq Hariri, a dual Saudi-Lebanese national.
On Tuesday in Saudi Arabia, US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice
urged Washington's allies to help "young governments in places like
Lebanon ... against the extremist forces", partly in reference to
Hezbollah.
In a hearts and minds campaign open to all religions, the Saudi doctors
in their fluorescent orange and turquoise outfits have seen more than
50,000 patients, with a maximum treatment time of 24 hours each that
they aim to extend to three days.
"We don't ask where they come from. We ask their name, age, and sex.
Most of the time, we know, by looking at them, the last part," said
Omani, who was trained in Edinburgh and has also been involved in
relief operations in Kosovo, Iran and Iraq.
"We have no time-limit on humanitarian care," he said, asked when
the operation would wind down.
"Our patients may be indirectly sick from the war, or it may be a
follow-up. Don't forget the infrastructure has gone in this country
and medicine is expensive," said Omani, 47, who wears a hearing aid
due to a 1991 Gulf War injury.
But the team does face some problems in terms of local habits. "The
trouble is convincing people to queue for registration and triage to
be able to classify patients," explained Omani.
"We also have psychiatric cases, especially for children, and illnesses
due to the war," said Omani.
The heaviest demand is for general practitioners but the clinic
also provides orthopaedic care, obstetrics, cardiology, psychiatric
treatment, paediatric, ultrasound and X-rays, as well as a laboratory.
It is equipped with an intensive care unit, recovery room, pharmacy,
an area for Muslim prayers, five ambulances, a sterilisation unit,
computers, in short all the latest in short-term medical care.
"We can handle 100 emergencies a day and more than 700 operations
have been carried out," said Omani, although the number of patients
has eased from the normal 1,300-a-day, and hours have been curtailed
for the dawn-to-dusk fasting month of Ramadan.
Alongside aging Druze men in their white caps, black clothes and
traditional baggy pants, veiled Sunni and Shiite women milled around
with their children in tow.
Others, untroubled by the Ramadan fast, helped themselves from cooled
water dispensers.
"Thank God, they are looking after us, not like the government. Even
if you are dying, our government will not let you in hospital for
treatment if you don't have the money," said Majida Habash, 32,
a Shiite woman from the bombed-out suburbs.
"We have also had no help from Hezbollah, maybe because our house was
not damaged," she said, referring to the 12,000-dollar cash handouts
being offered by the Shiite group backed by Tehran and Damascus.
Others were also impressed by the largesse of the oil-rich Saudi
government.
"I heard from the people that the Saudis have good doctors and are
giving free medicine. The people are saying good things," said Nazih
Allwan, a Sunni from west Beirut, who had been waiting two hours to
be seen for a stomach infection.
Berdjouhi Nazarian, 52, from the Armenian Christian district of Bourj
Hammoud in east Beirut, said her husband needs heart surgery for a
blocked artery.
"Bravo to them (the Saudis) for helping the people. We can't even
afford the medicine," she said.
Saudi King Abdullah has also decided to pay all fees for state
school students in Lebanon for the delayed academic year, while
neighbouring United Arab Emirates is footing the bill to repair
schools and provide textbooks.
by Haro Chakmakjian
Agence France Presse -- English
October 4, 2006 Wednesday
On the edge of Beirut racetrack, a horseshoe-shaped field hospital
is dispensing free medical care, as Saudi Arabia tries once again to
bankroll a Lebanese revival with hundreds of millions of dollars.
"I like horse-racing but we barely have time to call our families,"
said Saud al-Omani, a British-trained trauma surgeon from Riyadh
who heads a team of 115 doctors and nurses as well as 40 Lebanese
medical staff.
"We are all paid of course," he said, from the petrodollars aplenty
of the Saudi government.
Groups of patients waited in shaded areas complete with seats in
front of 18 air-conditioned containers built as clinics on wheels,
painted in white and with the sign of the Saudi Red Crescent Society.
The medics have been operational since August 5, three weeks into
Israel's 34-day war on the Shiite group Hezbollah that wrought
destruction mostly in south Lebanon and the Shiite southern suburbs
of Beirut, barely a few kilometres (miles) from the hospital.
The Saudi kingdom has been the single biggest aid donor to Lebanon,
comprising a one-billion-dollar deposit with the central bank to
shore up the currency and a grant of 500 million dollars.
It also sponsored the 1989 Taif accord which ended Lebanon's
15-year civil war and gave massive financial support for post-war
reconstruction, especially during the five-time premiership of the
late Rafiq Hariri, a dual Saudi-Lebanese national.
On Tuesday in Saudi Arabia, US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice
urged Washington's allies to help "young governments in places like
Lebanon ... against the extremist forces", partly in reference to
Hezbollah.
In a hearts and minds campaign open to all religions, the Saudi doctors
in their fluorescent orange and turquoise outfits have seen more than
50,000 patients, with a maximum treatment time of 24 hours each that
they aim to extend to three days.
"We don't ask where they come from. We ask their name, age, and sex.
Most of the time, we know, by looking at them, the last part," said
Omani, who was trained in Edinburgh and has also been involved in
relief operations in Kosovo, Iran and Iraq.
"We have no time-limit on humanitarian care," he said, asked when
the operation would wind down.
"Our patients may be indirectly sick from the war, or it may be a
follow-up. Don't forget the infrastructure has gone in this country
and medicine is expensive," said Omani, 47, who wears a hearing aid
due to a 1991 Gulf War injury.
But the team does face some problems in terms of local habits. "The
trouble is convincing people to queue for registration and triage to
be able to classify patients," explained Omani.
"We also have psychiatric cases, especially for children, and illnesses
due to the war," said Omani.
The heaviest demand is for general practitioners but the clinic
also provides orthopaedic care, obstetrics, cardiology, psychiatric
treatment, paediatric, ultrasound and X-rays, as well as a laboratory.
It is equipped with an intensive care unit, recovery room, pharmacy,
an area for Muslim prayers, five ambulances, a sterilisation unit,
computers, in short all the latest in short-term medical care.
"We can handle 100 emergencies a day and more than 700 operations
have been carried out," said Omani, although the number of patients
has eased from the normal 1,300-a-day, and hours have been curtailed
for the dawn-to-dusk fasting month of Ramadan.
Alongside aging Druze men in their white caps, black clothes and
traditional baggy pants, veiled Sunni and Shiite women milled around
with their children in tow.
Others, untroubled by the Ramadan fast, helped themselves from cooled
water dispensers.
"Thank God, they are looking after us, not like the government. Even
if you are dying, our government will not let you in hospital for
treatment if you don't have the money," said Majida Habash, 32,
a Shiite woman from the bombed-out suburbs.
"We have also had no help from Hezbollah, maybe because our house was
not damaged," she said, referring to the 12,000-dollar cash handouts
being offered by the Shiite group backed by Tehran and Damascus.
Others were also impressed by the largesse of the oil-rich Saudi
government.
"I heard from the people that the Saudis have good doctors and are
giving free medicine. The people are saying good things," said Nazih
Allwan, a Sunni from west Beirut, who had been waiting two hours to
be seen for a stomach infection.
Berdjouhi Nazarian, 52, from the Armenian Christian district of Bourj
Hammoud in east Beirut, said her husband needs heart surgery for a
blocked artery.
"Bravo to them (the Saudis) for helping the people. We can't even
afford the medicine," she said.
Saudi King Abdullah has also decided to pay all fees for state
school students in Lebanon for the delayed academic year, while
neighbouring United Arab Emirates is footing the bill to repair
schools and provide textbooks.