EVEN THE doctors who are working in south Lebanon to save civilians’ lives are now running for cover as three Cypriot doctors, who travelled to the warzone, spent yesterday in a bunker.
A shell-shocked Dr Eleni Theocharous, a DISY deputy who is in Lebanon with Doctors of the World told the CyBC radio yesterday that “no-one is safe in this area”, just after the hospital where she was working was bombarded.
The doctors and patients had to leave the hospital where they were stationed, in order to save themselves and took refuge in a nearby basement, Theocharous said. She said that the situation in the south of Lebanon was worsening, with the bombardments destroying all the roads and leaving people traumatised.
Paediatrician Dr George Demetriou, who is working with Theocharous, said there are a lot of injured people – many of them children – and they do not have enough medical help. Everybody in that area can hear the bombing and can see the smoke and helicopters clearly, he said.
An incident which obviously affected Demetriou was when they were travelling from one hospital to another and they witnessed a “huge convoy” with lots of ambulances and many children trying to reach safety, hoping to be treated for their severe injuries.
Demetriou went on to say that there is a serious lack of medical equipment and financial aid in south Lebanon. There is also a severe need for personnel: volunteer doctors to look after the injured.
“This is because some of the doctors, who put themselves out for the care of others are now fleeing Lebanon in search of their own safety,” he said.
Doctors of the World is a non-profit organisation which relies on volunteers and private financial donors to provide medical care to the world’s people who are most in need of it. However, the situation in the south of Lebanon has reached crisis point – doctors who came out to help are themselves fleeing for their lives.
Theocharous and her colleagues, Demetriou and Dr Andreas Vassiliou, hope to remain in Lebanon to help in every way they can. They say they hope that situation will begin to look up.
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