By Olivia Le Poidevin
GENEVA, April 9 (Reuters) – Some of Lebanon’s hospitals could run out of life-saving trauma medical kits within days as supplies near depletion following mass casualties from large-scale Israeli strikes over the past day, the World Health Organization said on Thursday.
The life-saving trauma kits include bandages, antibiotics and anaesthetics to treat patients who sustained war-related injuries, the WHO stated.
“Some of the trauma management supplies were in short (supply) and we may run out in a few days,” Dr Abdinasir Abubakar the WHO’s representative in Lebanon told Reuters.
Israel bombed more targets in Lebanon on Thursday after its biggest attacks of the war on its neighbour on Wednesday killed more than 250 people and more than 1,000 were injured, and threatened to torpedo Donald Trump’s truce from the outset.
“If we have another mass casualty, like what happened yesterday, it will be a disaster,” Abubakar said.
“Probably we will lose more lives just because we don’t have enough supplies,” he added.
Shortages of supplies of trauma kits have been driven by a surge in recent casualties – the majority of whom are civilians – with roughly three-weeks worth of supplies being depleted in one day, Abubakar stated.
Medicines to treat patients with chronic disease, such as insulin for diabetes patients, are also facing stock outs within the weeks – after supply chains were disrupted following the war in the Gulf and the closure of the Strait of Hormuz, Abubakar said.
(Reporting by Olivia Le Poidevin in Geneva; additional reporting by Maya Gebeily in Beirut. editing by Matthias Williams, Kirsti Knolle)
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