Kuwait delivers medical devices to Lebanon’s hospitals

Two Kuwaiti aid planes land at Beirut airport

BEIRUT: Kuwait Red Crescent Society (KRCS) on Sunday delivered medical equipment and supplies to hospitals affected by the blast that recently rocked Beirut port in Lebanon. The society’s field team visited five affected hospitals and was briefed on their conditions, and handed those facilities the medical devices and supplies, Musa’ed Al-Enzi, head of the society’s mission in Lebanon, said in a press statement. He stressed the importance of supporting the affected hospitals to help them resume their roles in treating those injured by the incident and provide immediate healthcare to them. He pointed to the society’s keenness on offering necessary needs, including medical and resuscitation devices, beds, wheelchairs, and protection and safety equipment, to hospitals. Such aid aims to enable hospitals to assume their humanitarian and national roles towards the Lebanese people in these difficult circumstances that require concerted efforts and potentials to serve the country, he noted. He expressed Kuwait’s solidarity with the Lebanese people in this plight, stressing the society’s continued support to the brotherly Lebanese people.

Meanwhile, head of Karantina Hospital Careen Saqar lauded, in a statement the press, the society’s backing to the affected hospitals, affirming Kuwait’s stance supporting Lebanon and its people. She said that the medical devices received by the hospital will contribute to the reconstruction process and the treatment of patients during the coming period. In addition to its field work to back those affected by the Beirut blast, the KRCS has been continuing its humanitarian aid to the Syrian and Palestinian refugees as well as needy families in Lebanon.

Aid planes arrive

Earlier on Sunday, two Kuwaiti Air Force planes carrying food supplies land at Beirut International Airport just a few days after a seaport explosion in the Lebanese capital. The pilot of the first plane, Colonel Firas Al-Khulaifi, said that this was the sixth plane carrying 50 tons of food and flour to the people affected. The second plane’s pilot said that his plane was the seventh of its kind and was carrying 60 tons of flour. The Kuwaiti aid is meant to ease out the impacts of a powerful seaport blast near central Beirut on Tuesday, which killed more than a hundred people and left thousands displaced.

In the meantime, two European diplomats praised the prompt aid Kuwait has given Lebanon after a port blast there left its capital Beirut in a heap of ruins, in addition to its simultaneous efforts to fight the coronavirus pandemic. KRCS’ gracious endeavors epitomize the country’s overwhelming support for the Lebanese people in the wake of the blast, Germany’s ambassador to Kuwait Stefan Mobs and his Czech counterpart Martin Dvorak agreed, saying they were both “saddened” over the horrific death toll. KRCS teams in Lebanon had surveyed the destruction triggered by the powerful port explosion in Lebanon, subsequently putting together a proper aid program, the charity’s chief Dr Hilal Al-Sayer was cited as saying in a statement on Sunday. He promised the Lebanese people that Kuwait would never “abandon” them, saying Beirut is in dire need of urgent aid to emerge from the tide of destruction that tore through the city. — KUNA

BEIRUT: Kuwait Red Crescent and Lebanese Red Cross workers move a hospital bed as part of a shipment of medical equipment donated by Kuwait to Lebanon’s hospitals. — KUNA photos

Relief workers examine medical equipment unloaded from a truck carrying donations from Kuwait to Lebanese hospitals.

A Kuwait Air Force plane carrying aid relief to Lebanon lands at Beirut International Airport.

Flour loaded into one of the planes to be donated to people affected by Beirut’s blast.

Workers move medical equipment from a truck carrying donations from Kuwait to Lebanese hospitals.