WHO: Explosions disrupt health sector in Lebanon

The Director-General of the World Health Organization, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, said on Thursday that the explosion of wireless communication devices (pagers) and other wireless communication devices in Lebanon this week led to serious disruptions in the country's already fragile health sector. The organization quoted health authorities in Lebanon as saying that 37 people were killed and 3,000 were injured in the explosion of communication devices in areas considered strongholds of the Hezbollah group. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said in a press conference that "these incidents caused serious disruptions in the already fragile health sector in Lebanon," adding that the organization distributed blood bags and medical supplies in the country. The Executive Director of the World Health Organization's Health Emergencies Program, Mike Ryan, said at the same conference that the health system "was completely overwhelmed very quickly." In turn, the World Health Organization representative in Lebanon, Abdel Nas ser Abu Bakr, said that 100 hospitals participated in the response, and explained that a series of training exercises before the attacks and the stockpiling of emergency supplies helped prepare medical teams and reduce losses. Source: National Iraqi News Agency