- Title: Surgeons in Lebanon offer hope to wounded Syrian refugees
- Date: 26th May 2017
- Summary: TRIPOLI, LEBANON (MAY 23, 2017) (REUTERS) MAN WALKING WITH AID OF A CRUTCH IN HOSPITAL HALLWAY / SYMBOL ON WINDOW FOR NO WEAPONS ALLOWED MAN SPEAKING WITH NURSE MEN SEATED IN THE HALLWAY OF TREATMENT CENTRE WITH CRUTCHES BY THEIR SIDE DRAWINGS ON THE WALL OF MAP OF SYRIA SYRIAN MAN WOUNDED IN BLAST ENTERING ROOM AND LYING ON HOSPITAL BED (SOUNDBITE) (Arabic) MAN WOUNDED IN SYRIA CONFLICT, ISMAEL MOUSTAFA, SAYING: ''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.'' MAN SEATED IN HALLWAY / WOMAN WALKING WITH THE HELP A WALKER IN BACKGROUND YOUNG MEN AND WOMEN TALKING DURING GROUP THERAPY SESSION AT CENTRE (SOUNDBITE) (Arabic) MAN WOUNDED IN SYRIA CONFLICT, ISMAEL MOUSTAFA, SAYING: ''The pain is constant, sometimes it lasts for two days, sometimes two hours, sometimes a week.'' VARIOUS OF GROUP THERAPY SESSION IN PROGRESS (SOUNDBITE) (Arabic) MAN WOUNDED IN SYRIA CONFLICT, ISMAEL MOUSTAFA, SAYING: ''It has taken a lot from me; I cannot work and provide for my son and my wife. It has taken lot of things away from me.'' TRIPOLI, LEBANON (MAY 24, 2017) (REUTERS) VARIOUS OF SYRIAN MAN ISMAEL MOUSTAFA BEFORE GOING INTO SURGERY, LYING IN HOSPITAL BED TALKING TO SURGEON WHO WILL OPERATE ON HIM CLOSE-UP OF MOUSTAFA ON HIS BED WAITING MOUSTAFA WHEELED INTO OPERATION ROOM TRIPOLI, LEBANON (MAY 23, 2017) (REUTERS) (SOUNDBITE) (Arabic) ORTHOPAEDIC SURGEON AND TRAINEE SURGEON AT THE WEAPON TRAUMATOLOGY TRAINING CENTRE, DR. FOUAD ISSA EL KHOURY, SAYING: ''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. I don't have a lot of experience in this because no one can give you that experience except the doctors who have been working in this field for 20 or 30 years. And here we see these cases as they arrive, and we see them being taken care of from the beginning to the end.'' TRIPOLI, LEBANON (MAY 24, 2017) (REUTERS) SURGEON WAITING TO BE FITTED WITH GLOVES IN OPERATION THEATRE X-RAY SCAN OF ISMAEL MOUSTAFA'S LEG ISMAEL MOUSTAFA'S LEG BEING WASHED BEFORE OPERATION TRAINEE AND TRAINING SURGEON PERFORMING SURGERY
- 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: LVA0016IH79DZ
- 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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