Den meget ustabile sikkerhedssituation i Libyen har allerede fået hjælpearbejdere til at trække sig ud af landet. Nu er udenlandsk sundhedspersonale på vej til at gøre det samme, og det får Libyens myndigheder til at frygte, at landets sundhedssystem vil kollapse helt.
TRIPOLI, 2 September 2014 (IRIN) – The political chaos and unrest in Libya is taking a serious toll on health services, with the departure of medical staff and humanitarian agencies increasing the strain on health workers seeking to treat those injured in the clashes taking place since June.
According to a World Health Organization (WHO) situation report, thousands of people have fled their homes in Tripoli and Benghazi and “large hospitals in Tripoli and Benghazi are overwhelmed with patients requiring emergency and trauma care.”
Several aid and UN agencies have suspended work on the ground, including the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) and Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF).
On 28 August five newly equipped ambulances were hijacked and stolen.
Foreign medical staff begin to leave
The Ministry of Health fears a “total collapse” of its health care if foreign medical staff leave Libya in large numbers, according to a spokesman.
Sixty percent of hospital staff are from the Philippines and 20 percent from India.
“The departure of foreign medical staff and shortages in medical supplies has rendered the plight of civilians more critical,” Tarek Mitri, the UN special representative of the Secretary-General in Libya, told the UN Security Council on 27 August.
More than 3,500 overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) out of an estimated 13,000 OFWs have been pulled out of Libya, according to a statement from the Labour Secretary of the Philippines, released on 28 August.
It is not clear how many of the 3,000 OFWs working as medical staff are among the departed.
Sheralyn Cenaza, a Filipino nurse at the Tripoli central hospital (TCH), left Libya by boat on 12 August:
“I’ve been in Libya for two years. The insecurity level has never been so high. We have been hearing bomb blasts every day in Tripoli.”
She said the community was particularly worried after a Filipino nurse was raped in Tripoli at the end of July.
Another Filipino nurse, Princess Famorean, has decided to stay on in Libya but takes extra care because of the insecurity.
“I spend my day inside the hospital or in the residence where I live which is just across the street. I never go out.”
The main motive for the foreigners to stay is money; a Filipino nurse often earns twice or three times more, about 920 LYD (US$751) a month, than they could in their country.
Police leave, rockets remain
TCH is under the protection of national police units but staff say they do not feel so comfortable.
“When bad guys are coming inside the hospital with guns, the policemen often leave,” Ahmed*, a Libyan medical staff member, told IRIN.
A non-exploded rocket, which fell in the hospital grounds but did not explode, has been cordoned off by tape but not removed since it fell two weeks ago.
Some health centres are inaccessible. The Al Jala hospital in Benghazi, the main centre for trauma care, is closed, and another major hospital, Al Hawwary, is inaccessible because it is in an area where fighting is taking place.
The situation is similar in Tripoli. “The emergency rooms in Tripoli Medical Center, Central Hospital and Abusleem Hospitals are barely functioning,” according to WHO.
15 percent of foreign staff have left
Abduljalil Graibi, director of TCH, has moved his office to the surgery department to provide support to staff in the current crisis.
He estimates that around 15 percent of his foreign medial staff have left, something he says is having a big impact.
“When the foreigners are on duty, I know that I can rely on them, whereas the Libyans can walk away from the hospital at any time.”
He says working rules are harder to enforce since the revolution.
The departure of foreign medical staff happened mainly during Ramadan when the number of patients is normally low. The lack of fuel and the heavy fighting in Tripoli suburbs have also made people less able to come into hospital. To cope, hospitals has instituted longer working hours.
“Libya should salute the foreigner medical staff, even those who decided to leave,” Fawzi Azowai, head of international relations for the Libyan Red Crescent and a trauma orthopaedic surgeon at Mitiga hospital in Tripoli, told IRIN.
The hospital is near an Islamist brigade base. The fighters have agreed to help the hospital: They provide fuel for the generator and secure the buildings.
“We remain neutral in the fighting. Fighters from any groups can come to be treated,” said Azowai.
Supply issues
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