Rafik Hariri University Hospital (RHUH) received a donation from UNHCR that has enabled it to expand its intensive care unit’s capacity.
Firass Abiad, the director-general of RHUH, revealed the donation in a series of tweets on Tuesday.
“Last Wednesday, RHUH received a kind donation from UNHCR Lebanon. The donation consisted of 10 beds, ventilators, and monitors, sufficient to expand our ICU capacity,” Abiad tweeted.
“The challenge given to our engineering and maintenance team: how quickly can we set them up,” he said.
Abiad revealed that it took the team 6 days to set up the new equipment. “Tomorrow, RHUH will start admitting critical patients to its new 10-bed ICU expansion.”
RHUH and other hospitals in Lebanon have been overwhelmed by the recent surge in coronavirus (COVID-19) cases, which have been quickly filling up what remains of vacant beds.
As a result of the donation, RHUH’s total bed capacity has increased to 54 adult and 5 neonatal ICU beds, in addition to 72 regular beds, according to Abiad. “Our nursing department has been diligently training our new recruits for the job,” he continued.
Though the expansion is certainly helpful, Abiad, who said more than 20 critical cases were admitted on a daily basis in the hospital’s emergency room for the past 2 weeks, noted that he does not expect the hospital’s ER staff to get “any respite.”
“There are a lot of sick Covid patients, and this is not a time for rest,” he stressed.
Finally, Abiad emphasized that it is “the moral duty of all hospitals to increase their bed capacity as much as possible.”
“Covid, however, cannot be defeated in hospitals. In the time of Coronavirus, we should celebrate when we finally close ICUs, not when we open them,” he concluded.
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