By Noora Ibrahim and Moutaz Ahmed.
Benghazi, 3 July 2014:
Management at Benghazi’s Jalaa Hospital has asked the Ministry of . . .[restrict]Health to intervene as talks stall to negotiate the withdrawal of Ansar Al-Sharia forces from the premises.
In an open letter to the Minister of Health the manager of Jalaa hospital, Mohamed Bargarthi, has asked the government to respond to the current stand-off between Ansar Al-Sharia and the Benghazi Joint Security Room (BJSR) and show leadership.
Referring to the BJSR’s order to the hospital five days ago to evacuate staff and patients in case its members had to take back the hospital by force, Bargathi said there were currently 92 patients at risk along with 12 patients in intensive care. He added that there was fragile equipment in the hospital worth LD 2 million.
Awad Alqawiri, a member of both the new Benghazi Municipal Council and the city’s hospitals and clinics association who has been asked to help resolve the matter told the Libya Herald that as of yet negotiations had not come to any resolution. He added that in the current deadlock it was difficult to say whether any progress would be made over the next two to three days.
Benghazi Joint Security Room (BJSR) asked mediators to begin negotiating with Ansar Al-Sharia to get them to leave the hospital yesterday. The Ansar group moved into the hospital and took over security ten days ago after BJSR forces pulled out following clashes at Benghazi port.
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