Fuel shortages leave Lebanese hospitals in ‘critical condition’

With fuel and medicine shortages, Lebanese hospitals struggle to treat those wounded in the Akkar fuel explosion.

Beirut, Lebanon – After a devastating fuel tanker explosion in the northern village of Tleil killed 28 people and left nearly 80 wounded, Lebanese hospitals across the country opened their doors to patients. The northern village and the rest of Akkar province is one of the country’s poorest, and because its hospitals do not have burn units, many of the wounded had to be treated as far away as the capital Beirut, about a two-and-a-half-hour drive. Geitaoui Hospital, a few blocks away from Beirut Port, was destroyed in the gruesome port explosion on August 4, 2020. It is operating again but, like other hospitals in the country, it struggles to find medicine and fuel and keep its staff.