- Title: Surgeons in Lebanon offer hope to wounded Syrian refugees
- Date: 26th May 2017
- Summary: TRIPOLI, LEBANON (MAY 23, 2017) (REUTERS) (SOUNDBITE) (English) ORTHOPAEDIC SURGEON AND TRAINING SURGEON AT THE WEAPON TRAUMATOLOGY TRAINING CENTRE, DR. RICHARD GOSSELIN, SAYING: ''Most of them are infected, most of their infections are very complicated, they are resistant to most antibiotics so the management of the infection is a big challenge, most of them have bad wounds, chronic wounds, so the management of the wounds themselves are complicated, and most of them have bad bone problems so you put all of that together and you have big surgical challenges.'' TRIPOLI, LEBANON (MAY 24, 2017) (REUTERS) VIEW OF OPERATION THEATRE AND SURGERY IN PROGRESS, SEEN THROW GLASS WINDOW ISMAEL MOUSTAFA MOVING AS HE WAKES UP FROM ANAESTHESIA TRIPOLI, LEBANON (MAY 23, 2017) (REUTERS) (SOUNDBITE) (English) ORTHOPAEDIC SURGEON AND TRAINING SURGEON AT THE WEAPON TRAUMATOLOGY TRAINING CENTRE, DR. RICHARD GOSSELIN, SAYING: ''There is much more multi-resistance in war wounded than in the general population, yes, especially in the Middle East. Why? Nobody knows.'' TRIPOLI, LEBANON (MAY 24, 2017) (REUTERS) VARIOUS OF PATIENT ISMAEL MOUSTAFA IN RECOVERY ROOM AFTER SURGERY BEIRUT, LEBANON (MAY 17, 2017) (REUTERS) (SOUNDBITE) (English) HEAD OF ICRC DELEGATION IN LEBANON, FABRIZZIO CARBONI, SAYING: ''The fact that they will be able to run and ski and climb the mountains, maybe not. But these are people who will regain dignity, who will regain some level of mobility and that's key in region, like this region, where people are facing so many difficulties.'' TRIPOLI, LEBANON (MAY 23, 2017) (REUTERS) SYRIAN PATIENT SALEH, 27, WALKING ON CRUTCHES INTO REHABILITATION ROOM SIGN READING (English): ''WEAPON TRAUMATOLOGY TRAINING CENTRE.'' SALEH PERFORMING LEG EXERCISE OTHER PATIENTS IN REHABILITATION ROOM WATCHING TV (SOUNDBITE) (Arabic) 27-YEAR-OLD SYRIAN PATIENT, SALEH, SAYING: ''I do not want anything anymore except to be able to stand again. At the beginning, I was lying in bed for two weeks without being able to move at all. When I began to walk across one tile on the floor, one meter, it was considered progress. It makes you think that the most important thing in life is your health.'' VARIOUS OF SALEH PERFORMING LEG EXERCISE BEIRUT, LEBANON (MAY 17, 2017) (REUTERS) (SOUNDBITE) (English) HEAD OF ICRC DELEGATION IN LEBANON, FABRIZZIO CARBONI, SAYING: "Even if war stops tomorrow, you will have the necessity of this service for years, if not decades, because the number of wounded and people needing support is very high." TRIPOLI, LEBANON (MAY 24, 2017) (REUTERS) SYRIAN PATIENT SHAHED KHALIL, 8, SITTING ON HER BED PLAYING SHAHED PLAYING ON HER BED WITH ONE LEG IN CAST
- Embargoed: 9th June 2017 15:55
- Keywords: Syria Tripoli war reconstructive surgery Yemen ICRC wounded conflict Lebanon Iraq hospital
- Location: TRIPOLI AND BEIRUT, LEBANON
- City: TRIPOLI AND BEIRUT, LEBANON
- Country: Lebanon
- Topics: Conflicts/War/Peace
- Reuters ID: LVA0036IH79DZ
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text:EDITORS PLEASE NOTE: THIS EDIT CONTAINS GRAPHIC IMAGES OF SURGERY (SHOT 20)
Six operations have failed to cure the constant pain that Ismael Moustafa suffers since he was wounded in an air strike on his village in Syria three years ago.
The 28-year-old former construction worker hobbled on crutches after the shrapnel tore through his right hip and leg, with painkillers offering no relief.
A recurring infection made further operations too complex for some surgeons, as well as out of reach for him financially, until the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) in Lebanon accepted the challenge of getting him walking again.
"It has been a long and hard journey to get here, and the pain in my leg never goes away. There is always pain, I cannot walk," Moustafa said, lying on a hospital bed awaiting surgery to remove an infected section of bone in his leg.
The ICRC, which is providing his expensive operation, says it has treated some 350 war-wounded patients since 2014 at its Weapon Traumatology Training Centre on the second floor of the Dar Al Shifaa hospital in Tripoli, northern Lebanon.
A similar programme has cared for around 750 patients, including from Yemen, Iraq, Syria and Lebanon, at the Rafik Hariri University Hospital in Beirut.
"The cases that we see here, we don't see anywhere else. They are war wounds and they are infected and have a lot of complications, and they have been previously operated on many times," said Fouad Issa El Khoury, a trainee doctor at the centre.
Moustafa's surgery, which doctors said later was a success, cost at least $50,000, El Khoury said. The ICRC also covered the bill for physical rehabilitation and psychotherapy at the nearby Al Zahraa hospital.
For many Syrians in Lebanon the cost of even routine healthcare is simply beyond their means. Many are on a waiting list of one month for treatment at the ICRC.
Eight-year-old Shahed Khalil has had 10 operations, three of them in Al Shifaa, to repair her right thigh and enable her to walk again after she was wounded in an air strike in Syria while on her way to school two years ago.
On a recent check-up it was discovered that the metal plate fitted in her leg had broken and she would require more surgery, putting her back on the wait list.
But Khalil and Moustafa are among the fortunate ones to receive care. A report by the Syrian Center for Policy Research said 1.9 million Syrians had been wounded in the first five years of a war that began in 2011. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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