Adedokun Waliyu 
No fewer than 28 on-duty medics have been reportedly killed in Lebanon, 24 hours after Israel launched airstrikes and sent troops to fight Hezbollah in an escalating conflict.
The World Health Organisation chief made this known in a statement on Thursday.
The WHO Director-General, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, stated this in an online press briefing, calling for stronger protections for health workers.
“Many (other) health workers are not reporting to duty and fled the areas where they work due to bombardments.
“This is severely limiting the provision of mass trauma management and continuity of health services,” he said.
According to Reuters, WHO’s representative in Lebanon, Dr Abdinasir Abubakar, told the briefing that all of the healthcare workers killed in the past day had been on duty, helping with the wounded.
A total of nearly 2,000 people have been killed, including 127 children, and 9,384 injured since the start of Israeli attacks on Lebanon over the last year, the country’s health ministry said. The WHO said this included 73 healthcare workers.
“Hospitals have been already evacuated. I think what I can say for now is the capacity for mass casualty management exists, but it’s just a matter of time until the system actually reaches its limit,” said the WHO’s Abubakar.
The global health agency will not be able to deliver a large planned shipment of trauma and medical supplies to the country on Friday due to flight restrictions, Tedros said at the same briefing.
