2024-09-19 21:35:55
In Beirut, in a white room at Rizk Hospital, young men with torn hands, disfigured faces and gaping holes in their abdomens are gathering. Everywhere, bandages around their eyes, their stomachs. And blood. Lots of blood. An hour earlier, the management of the Lebanese American University hospital in Beirut received a call from the Ministry of Health reporting an attack via pagers in neighborhoods of the Lebanese capital where Hezbollah is established.
“When we received the call, we didn’t understand anything,” admits Georges Ghanem, head of the cardiology department and head of the crisis unit at Rizk hospital. It must be said that the modus operandi is unprecedented. Thousands of pagers on Tuesday (and then walkie-talkies on Wednesday) carried by suspected Hezbollah members exploded simultaneously.
Immediately after the call, crisis mode was activated at Rizk Hospital. Accustomed to the attacks that regularly hit the country, the system was well-oiled. “We sent a message to all the staff to go to the hospital immediately.” Several hundred doctors, interns, nurses and employees then arrived.
Injured people who “did not want to be identified”
“In this case, everyone knows exactly what they have to do,” explains Georges Ghanem. Patients waiting in the emergency room are evacuated, a floor of the hospital is emptied and non-vital operations are cancelled. Once the first ambulances arrive, emergency doctors filter the injured: a red zone for ultimate emergencies, a grey one for cases not requiring heavy care.
“Most of the wounded were really stunned and remained quite silent,” said the head of the crisis unit. It must be said that Rizk hospital is not located in the neighborhoods where Hezbollah supporters live. “They came to be treated in a place that was foreign to them and could be reluctant to be treated outside their community, but they remained dignified and calm.” The doctor said that some men initially refused to give their names. “They did not want to be identified, because most of them work anonymously for Hezbollah.”
“They all required the same type of operation”
Among the injured at Rizk Hospital was an 11-year-old boy who was near his father when his father’s pager exploded. He suffered severe brain injuries and did not survive. Apart from this case, all the patients had similar injuries. “When their pager went off, they took it out of their pocket to check their message and that’s when it exploded,” the doctor said. “Most of them had one or both hands amputated and lost one or both eyes.”
The doctor assures us that it is very rare to see so many identical injuries. An unprecedented situation that is difficult to manage. “The problem is that they all required the same type of operation, with the same medical team and the same equipment, so it was not easy to move quickly.” The teams worked all night, non-stop.
“What we use in everyday life can become a weapon”
On Wednesday afternoon, new explosions hit the walkie-talkies of suspected members of the Lebanese movement in several regions across the country. Rizk Hospital received only two wounded. “There are still operations this Thursday but this is only the first phase of care for the wounded. They will probably resort to transplants and prostheses.”
The Beirut resident says he is “used to things that are sometimes even more spectacular” but acknowledges an unprecedented level of sophistication. “We feel like we are living in science fiction, where what we use in everyday life can become a weapon.” But the doctor assures that he does not feel fear on a daily basis. “It is a war between Israel and Hezbollah, not between Israel and Lebanon.” The country accuses the Hebrew state of being behind these two targeted attacks, which this Thursday afternoon left 37 dead and nearly 3,000 injured. But Israel has so far remained silent and has not commented on these events.
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