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By Callum Paton.
Tripoli, 28 January 2014:
The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) and the Libyan Red Crescent have called on . . .[restrict]all sides involved in clashes in Sebha and the surrounding area to allow the wounded access to medical treatment.
The ICRC said the volatile security situation in the south had made access to healthcare increasingly difficult, with hospitals in Sebha, Murzuk and Obari struggling to cope with the wounded.
“In some cases, fighting has taken place in the vicinity of a hospital,” said Head of ICRC’s Sebha office, Ramy Saliba. He added that it was increasingly difficult for essential medical supplies to reach the southern town because the unpredictable security situation had made access difficult.
An ICRC spokesman Eman Mo’ankar told the Libya Herald that, while some medical supplies were still getting through, if fighting continued this would become increasingly problematic. She added that medical providers were working under very difficult conditions, with three clinics in Sebha now operating as field hospitals.
Mo’ankar said that, because lorry drivers were refusing to enter areas affected by fighting, there were shortages not only of medicines, but also fuel and gas. Food supplies were also running low, she added.
The ICRC and the Libyan Red Crescent, in cooperation with the Ministry of Health, have sent medical supplies to Murzuk Hospital. This, the ICRC said, would provide surgical treatment of up to 50 wounded patients. [/restrict]
