The Order of Malta Lebanon is sustaining and extending its operations through its Mobile Medical Units (MMU) program, in support of the sick persons living in poor conditions, in remote villages across Lebanon, with limited access to proper healthcare.
The first two MMUs were originally deployed to respond to the aftermath of the 2006 war and continue to cover about 20 villages in the South of Lebanon.
Two other MMUs were implemented following the influx of the Syrian displaced population, operating since 2014 in the regions of Akkar (North) and Kefraya (West Bekaa) since 2016.
Affiliated to our Centers and to the hospitals in the area, these MMUs provide a complete free healthcare program to both the displaced and the underprivileged host communities.
Already active in some villages in the West Bekaa, the Order extended its operations up North. On October 22nd 2019, a fifth MMU, generously donated by the Foreign Office of the German Government, through Malteser International was set up in the Baalback-Hermel governate to cover at first the following villages: Arsal, Nabi Othmane, El Ain, Fekeha, Ras Baalbeck, Qaa, and Barka.
The latest MMU was strategically positioned in NorthEast Baalback following a thorough assessment done with our field partner Cooperation without Borders, which identified high level of poverty and acute healthcare needs in this remote rural area. The Bekaa region hosts 37% of the Syrian displaced population in Lebanon as well as a vast number of deprived Lebanese communities; Arsal alone, located next to the Syrian border, hosts close to 40,000 refugees living in informal tented settlements.
On the first week of its activation, the MMU in NorthEast Baalback managed to treat a total of 455 patients, offering free consultations and medication to children, adults and elderly.
