In the midst of the Covid-19 pandemic and despite the containment measures, the Order of Malta Lebanon continues its humanitarian action towards the needy and multiplies its health care activities, in compliance with the WHO protection recommendations and the Ministry of Health.
Like a banner of hope, the cross of the Order of Malta, in its red shield that can be identified for kilometers, criss-crosses the roads of Lebanese territory to its most remote regions, through thick and thin, to reach the more suffering and provide them with essential support in these troubled times.
Indeed, despite the measures of containment imposed on the population, the Order of Malta – true to its motto “I ask not about your race, color or religion, but tell me what your suffering is” – continues its humanitarian action, without any distinction, towards the most disadvantaged, and there are many, especially following the economic and health crises that the country is undergoing.
For although the coronavirus is currently the n° 1 enemy to fight, the other diseases are not to be outdone, and it is essential, today more than ever, to provide the necessary health care to the sick, especially those suffering from chronic diseases.
Free MMU services
In order to manage the 120 patients or so that each Mobile Medical Unit (MMU) receives daily, the healthcare teams have set up a filtering system at the entrance to the MMU, to categorize them according to their requests. Those who come to get their supplies from the pharmacy receive their lot of drugs outside the MMU. Only cases that require a consultation enter the medical unit, after having followed the full procedure of taking temperature, disinfection and wearing a mask and gloves. To date, no case of Covid-19 has yet been detected; if this were the case, it would be referred to the competent authorities.
Endless misery has increased the number of needy people who come to be treated in the MMUs. Saleh, 42 years, father of 3 children, from Jabbouleh (Beqaa), relates: “From the beginning of the coronavirus crisis, I found myself unemployed. I can no longer pay my rent or the pharmacy bill… I can hardly feed my children. This situation is catastrophic, it is suffocating us…” His voice breaks, he is on the verge of tears. But he continues: “We are extremely grateful to the Order of Malta for ensuring, through its MMU, the medicines we need”.
Rawia, 39, lives with her diabetic mother, and suffers from high blood pressure herself. “I used to work in a restaurant”, she says, “but the situation has gradually deteriorated, and I have been out of work since last fall. My mother and I are forced to live on people’s charity. Thank God, the Order of Malta graciously provides us with much of the medicine we need”.
In parallel and in a concern for communicating vital information, since the beginning of the pandemic, the staff of the MMUs, during their travels, take the opportunity to conduct awareness and education campaigns among the most indigent populations, and therefore the less informed.
Community Health Centers and teleconsultations
The action of the Order of Malta also radiates thanks to its 10 Community Health Centers scattered throughout the Lebanese territory, and which continue to provide the main medical services (general medicine, pediatrics, cardiology, gynecology) as well as medical follow-up and the supply of medicines for patients suffering from chronic diseases, through a pharmacy that is operating at full capacity. Only paramedical activities and dentistry services were suspended.
In order to be able to proceed with the consultations in compliance with the instructions for social distancing, a hotline has been set up in each of the centers, facilitating the contact between patients and doctors and even encouraging, when the case allows it, teleconsultations.
To receive patients, the centers have also adopted the necessary measures through collective discipline and strict application of protection instructions, following the recommendations of the World Health Organization and the Ministry of Public Health, to which the Order of Malta Lebanon is bound by an agreement signed with the Lebanese Republic. These instructions include hygiene measures, the patient reception protocol, what to do if the patient shows clinical signs, disinfection of work surfaces, premises and vehicles, and finally a rotation to ensure a permanence grouping the fewer people possible within the centers.
Maintain human contact
The Day Care Centers for the elderly have had to close their doors as a precautionary measure, to protect our seniors, who are particularly fragile during this pandemic period. However, contact is maintained with everyone, and home visits are made regularly to those who are sick, especially if they live in remote areas.
This human contact, so vilified in these times of confinement, nevertheless remains the key element of the action of the Order of Malta. As one of the doctors said, “Our mission today is more essential than ever, and no virus will prevent us from pursuing it with the most vulnerable among us”. A special tribute must be paid, once again, to the nursing staff who, braving the danger of contamination and beyond the protective armor and the thousand and one precautions to be taken, continues to transmit, through each gesture and each care given, love and comfort, universal medicines both for the body and the soul.
This article was published in L’Orient-Le Jour, April 10, 2020.
