By Libya Herald staff.
Tripoli, 14 October 2014:
As the injured pour into hospitals and the displaced flee to safety, local hospitals, community . . .[restrict]leaders and humanitarian aid organisations continue scrambling to meet the needs of those affected by the ongoing clashes in western Libya.
According to Gharian Municipal Council member Saleh Said, the town had received more than 200 people displaced by the fighting between Libya Dawn forces and Zintanis and their allies militias in Kikla and Qalaa by Tuesday morning.
Said has been quoted saying that while some refugees had gone on to Tripoli, the majority were being hosted by Gharian residents in their homes. People were still pouring in from the Jebel Nafusa area, he said, in the ongoing clashes.
A source inside Gharian Hospital has said that the facility had registered 21 dead and 60 wounded in the attack on the town of Kikla. Some cases were transferred to various hospitals in Tripoli, the source clarified.
In Misrata, a general surgeon at Misrata Central Hospital has declared it to be in an emergency on Monday after having received more than 50 patients injured by the clashes in Kikla and Jebel Nafusa over two days.
According to the surgeon, the declaration was not made because of a shortage in medical staff, but because the hospital has been undergoing maintenance and could not function normally. Furthermore, he added that the facility was lacking in medical supplies and government aid needed to purchase supplies and equipment.
For its part, the Tripoli branch of the Libyan Red Crescent sent food and other aid to Kikla on Monday, and aided in the transfer of some of the wounded to hospitals in the capital. According to an official at the Red Crescent, Malik Mohammed Mursat, the organisation’s Tripoli branch has plans to send a shipment of medical supplies to the hospital in Kikla.
On the eastern side of the country, the Tobruk Medical Centre has reported an urgent need for blood donations to treat those injured in the Benghazi clashes, while the Central Blood Bank of Benghazi has said that it is suffering from a shortage of bags for drawing blood. Apparently, blocked roads have prevented the shipment of medical supplies to the clinic. Without the blood bags, the bank will have to cease operations until a new shipment arrives, said a source inside the clinic. [/restrict]
