Lebanon’s acute fuel shortages during the hottest month in the year are not only plunging the country in darkness but also threatening major hospitals with closure and endangering people's lives, healthcare workers have told The National.
Like many health centres, Notre-Dame Des Secours University Hospital has tried to reduce its electricity consumption in the past months in administrative areas by turning off lights, lifts and cooling systems.
But last week, the hospital had to turn off the air conditioning in a bloc of 37 patients’ rooms for three hours, a measure which raises the risk of hospital-acquired infections, medics said.
“This is unacceptable,” said economic affairs director Etoile Matar, standing in a dimly lit corridor of the private hospital in Jbeil, a coastal town north of Beirut.
The healthcare of the hospital's patients was unharmed during the three-hour cut but “if this continues, it will pose a serious health risk”, she told The National.
A hospital without electricity simply does not exist. It’s like a car without petrol.
Firass Abiad,
director of Rafik Hariri University Hospital
There has never been round-the-clock electricity since the end of Lebanon’s 1975-1990 civil war. Before the country’s severe financial crisis began two years ago, power cuts in the capital used to be limited to three hours a day and could reach up to 12 hours outside Beirut.
Hospitals, like private homes and businesses, rely on private generators to make up for the state’s deficiencies. But those generators are now running almost constantly as Lebanon’s state-run electricity company Electricité du Liban provides as little as two hours of power each day.
Faced with increased demand and reduced imports, fuel suppliers are running low on their stocks of subsidised fuel, prompting huge queues at petrol stations. Private generator owners, which serve entire neighbourhoods, turn off their generators for over 12 hours a day.
In hospitals, where lives are at stake, the staff are left with tough decisions.
This is the last call. We can’t come to work. We can’t look after the sick. We would be committing a crime if we continue this way.
Khalil Kain,
a hospital employee
Some ask patients to buy drugs themselves despite knowing that they will struggle to find them in pharmacies due to crippling medical shortages caused by the crisis.
“We have to tell them to buy the medicine and come back. We can’t do anything but pray for them,” said biomedical engineer Rayan Kalo, who works in a government hospital in the coastal southern city of Saida.
Her colleague Khalil Kain, who heads the employees’ union, said he feared that Saida’s public hospital would close soon.
“We’re not joking. This is the last call. We can’t come to work. We can’t look after the sick. We would be committing a crime if we continue this way,” he said, at a protest organised by staff outside the hospital on Monday. “We have no idea what will happen in the coming weeks.”
Recently, all the hospital's generators shut down after working 36 hours continuously, said Ms Kalo. A full half-hour passed before electricity returned.
“Thank God we had no Covid patients on ventilators,” she said. “Lebanon’s medical sector is heading towards a catastrophe.”
The Energy Ministry responded to a plea for help sent out by the union of private hospitals on Sunday by sending state-subsidised fuel to 10 hospitals.
But the delivery to Notre-Dame des Secours Hospital was only enough for one day and it remains unclear whether deliveries will continue.
“How come the government finds officially priced fuel as soon as hospitals start protesting?” asked Sami Rizk, chief executive of the Lebanese American University Hospital. “They need to provide us with this fuel. We already have huge budget problems.”
Shortages have triggered a black market which few hospitals can afford.
The National has requested a comment from caretaker energy minister Raymond Ghajar.
On Monday, lack of electricity and fuel forced one of Lebanon’s two producers of intravenous fluid to stop working.
“We are going to suffer from shortages of the serum and this threatens the lives of all patients,” said Mary Raad, a pharmacist at Notre-Dame Des Secours Hospital.
Rafik Hariri University Hospital, the country’s largest hospital and its main Covid-19 health centre, has also switched off air-conditioning in administrative areas and cut clinical operations by nearly 20 per cent, said its director Firass Abiad.
He has warned in the past that the hospital will not be able to handle a surge of Covid-19 cases, which are currently relatively low, but increasing.
Elsewhere, the hospital's non-Covid emergency rooms remain busy.
“If we start shutting down those areas, where will those patients go? We are pushing back on this decision but we don’t know for how long,” Mr Abiad told The National.
“A hospital without electricity simply does not exist. It’s like a car without petrol,” he said.
Hospital staff say they are close to breaking point.
At Saida government hospital, salaries are two months late, and close to 60 per cent of the 300 employees are unable to go to work because they cannot find fuel for their cars.
About 25 nurses recently quit for better paid jobs abroad, and there is little hope of recruiting new staff, said Mr Kain. “Who would apply to work in a hospital that doesn’t pay its own employees?” he asked.
Vidaamuyarchi
Director: Magizh Thirumeni
Stars: Ajith Kumar, Arjun Sarja, Trisha Krishnan, Regina Cassandra
Rating: 4/5
MATCH INFO
Day 2 at Mount Maunganui
England 353
Stokes 91, Denly 74, Southee 4-88
New Zealand 144-4
Williamson 51, S Curran 2-28
The specs
Engine: 6.2-litre supercharged V8
Power: 712hp at 6,100rpm
Torque: 881Nm at 4,800rpm
Transmission: 8-speed auto
Fuel consumption: 19.6 l/100km
Price: Dh380,000
On sale: now
Ferrari 12Cilindri specs
Engine: naturally aspirated 6.5-liter V12
Power: 819hp
Torque: 678Nm at 7,250rpm
Price: From Dh1,700,000
Available: Now
The specs
BMW M8 Competition Coupe
Engine 4.4-litre twin-turbo V8
Power 625hp at 6,000rpm
Torque 750Nm from 1,800-5,800rpm
Gearbox Eight-speed paddleshift auto
Acceleration 0-100kph in 3.2 sec
Top speed 305kph
Fuel economy, combined 10.6L / 100km
Price from Dh700,000 (estimate)
On sale Jan/Feb 2020
THE BIO
Born: Mukalla, Yemen, 1979
Education: UAE University, Al Ain
Family: Married with two daughters: Asayel, 7, and Sara, 6
Favourite piece of music: Horse Dance by Naseer Shamma
Favourite book: Science and geology
Favourite place to travel to: Washington DC
Best advice you’ve ever been given: If you have a dream, you have to believe it, then you will see it.
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
Volvo ES90 Specs
Engine: Electric single motor (96kW), twin motor (106kW) and twin motor performance (106kW)
Power: 333hp, 449hp, 680hp
Torque: 480Nm, 670Nm, 870Nm
On sale: Later in 2025 or early 2026, depending on region
Price: Exact regional pricing TBA
UAE squad
Esha Oza (captain), Al Maseera Jahangir, Emily Thomas, Heena Hotchandani, Indhuja Nandakumar, Katie Thompson, Lavanya Keny, Mehak Thakur, Michelle Botha, Rinitha Rajith, Samaira Dharnidharka, Siya Gokhale, Sashikala Silva, Suraksha Kotte, Theertha Satish (wicketkeeper) Udeni Kuruppuarachchige, Vaishnave Mahesh.
UAE tour of Zimbabwe
All matches in Bulawayo
Friday, Sept 26 – First ODI
Sunday, Sept 28 – Second ODI
Tuesday, Sept 30 – Third ODI
Thursday, Oct 2 – Fourth ODI
Sunday, Oct 5 – First T20I
Monday, Oct 6 – Second T20I
Company Fact Box
Company name/date started: Abwaab Technologies / September 2019
Founders: Hamdi Tabbaa, co-founder and CEO. Hussein Alsarabi, co-founder and CTO
Based: Amman, Jordan
Sector: Education Technology
Size (employees/revenue): Total team size: 65. Full-time employees: 25. Revenue undisclosed
Stage: early-stage startup
Investors: Adam Tech Ventures, Endure Capital, Equitrust, the World Bank-backed Innovative Startups SMEs Fund, a London investment fund, a number of former and current executives from Uber and Netflix, among others.
Retail gloom
Online grocer Ocado revealed retail sales fell 5.7 per cen in its first quarter as customers switched back to pre-pandemic shopping patterns.
It was a tough comparison from a year earlier, when the UK was in lockdown, but on a two-year basis its retail division, a joint venture with Marks&Spencer, rose 31.7 per cent over the quarter.
The group added that a 15 per cent drop in customer basket size offset an 11.6. per cent rise in the number of customer transactions.
The specs
Engine: Dual 180kW and 300kW front and rear motors
Power: 480kW
Torque: 850Nm
Transmission: Single-speed automatic
Price: From Dh359,900 ($98,000)
On sale: Now
EA Sports FC 26
Publisher: EA Sports
Consoles: PC, PlayStation 4/5, Xbox Series X/S
Rating: 3/5
From Europe to the Middle East, economic success brings wealth - and lifestyle diseases
A rise in obesity figures and the need for more public spending is a familiar trend in the developing world as western lifestyles are adopted.
One in five deaths around the world is now caused by bad diet, with obesity the fastest growing global risk. A high body mass index is also the top cause of metabolic diseases relating to death and disability in Kuwait, Qatar and Oman – and second on the list in Bahrain.
In Britain, heart disease, lung cancer and Alzheimer’s remain among the leading causes of death, and people there are spending more time suffering from health problems.
The UK is expected to spend $421.4 billion on healthcare by 2040, up from $239.3 billion in 2014.
And development assistance for health is talking about the financial aid given to governments to support social, environmental development of developing countries.
How to join and use Abu Dhabi’s public libraries
• There are six libraries in Abu Dhabi emirate run by the Department of Culture and Tourism, including one in Al Ain and Al Dhafra.
• Libraries are free to visit and visitors can consult books, use online resources and study there. Most are open from 8am to 8pm on weekdays, closed on Fridays and have variable hours on Saturdays, except for Qasr Al Watan which is open from 10am to 8pm every day.
• In order to borrow books, visitors must join the service by providing a passport photograph, Emirates ID and a refundable deposit of Dh400. Members can borrow five books for three weeks, all of which are renewable up to two times online.
• If users do not wish to pay the fee, they can still use the library’s electronic resources for free by simply registering on the website. Once registered, a username and password is provided, allowing remote access.
• For more information visit the library network's website.
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
The biog
Name: Sari Al Zubaidi
Occupation: co-founder of Cafe di Rosati
Age: 42
Marital status: single
Favourite drink: drip coffee V60
Favourite destination: Bali, Indonesia
Favourite book: 100 Years of Solitude
Veere di Wedding
Dir: Shashanka Ghosh
Starring: Kareena Kapoo-Khan, Sonam Kapoor, Swara Bhaskar and Shikha Talsania
Verdict: 4 Stars
Western Region Asia Cup Qualifier
Results
UAE beat Saudi Arabia by 12 runs
Kuwait beat Iran by eight wickets
Oman beat Maldives by 10 wickets
Bahrain beat Qatar by six wickets
Semi-finals
UAE v Qatar
Bahrain v Kuwait
THE TWIN BIO
Their favourite city: Dubai
Their favourite food: Khaleeji
Their favourite past-time : walking on the beach
Their favorite quote: ‘we rise by lifting others’ by Robert Ingersoll
How does ToTok work?
The calling app is available to download on Google Play and Apple App Store
To successfully install ToTok, users are asked to enter their phone number and then create a nickname.
The app then gives users the option add their existing phone contacts, allowing them to immediately contact people also using the application by video or voice call or via message.
Users can also invite other contacts to download ToTok to allow them to make contact through the app.
Key facilities
- Olympic-size swimming pool with a split bulkhead for multi-use configurations, including water polo and 50m/25m training lanes
- Premier League-standard football pitch
- 400m Olympic running track
- NBA-spec basketball court with auditorium
- 600-seat auditorium
- Spaces for historical and cultural exploration
- An elevated football field that doubles as a helipad
- Specialist robotics and science laboratories
- AR and VR-enabled learning centres
- Disruption Lab and Research Centre for developing entrepreneurial skills
Ms Yang's top tips for parents new to the UAE
- Join parent networks
- Look beyond school fees
- Keep an open mind
MO
%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3ECreators%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3EMohammed%20Amer%2C%20Ramy%20Youssef%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EStars%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3EMohammed%20Amer%2C%20Teresa%20Ruiz%2C%20Omar%20Elba%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3ERating%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%204%2F5%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
What can you do?
Document everything immediately; including dates, times, locations and witnesses
Seek professional advice from a legal expert
You can report an incident to HR or an immediate supervisor
You can use the Ministry of Human Resources and Emiratisation’s dedicated hotline
In criminal cases, you can contact the police for additional support
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
Isle of Dogs
Director: Wes Anderson
Starring: Bryan Cranston, Liev Schreiber, Ed Norton, Greta Gerwig, Bill Murray, Jeff Goldblum, Scarlett Johansson
Three stars
South Africa squad
: Faf du Plessis (captain), Hashim Amla, Temba Bavuma, Quinton de Kock (wkt), Theunis de Bruyn, AB de Villiers, Dean Elgar, Heinrich Klaasen (wkt), Keshav Maharaj, Aiden Markram, Morne Morkel, Chris Morris, Wiaan Mulder, Lungi Ngidi, Duanne Olivier, Vernon Philander and Kagiso Rabada.
Countries recognising Palestine
France, UK, Canada, Australia, Portugal, Belgium, Malta, Luxembourg, San Marino and Andorra
Global state-owned investor ranking by size
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United States
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China
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UAE
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Japan
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5
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Norway
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Canada
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Singapore
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Australia
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Saudi Arabia
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South Korea
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The specs
Engine: 3-litre twin-turbo V6
Power: 400hp
Torque: 475Nm
Transmission: 9-speed automatic
Price: From Dh215,900
On sale: Now
Director: Shady Ali
Cast: Boumi Fouad , Mohamed Tharout and Hisham Ismael
Rating: 3/5
