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Lebanese Hospitals Reach Breaking Point in Face of Overwhelming Shortages

A patient rests on a bed in a hallway of the Rafic Hariri University Hospital (RHUH) in Lebanon's capital Beirut.

A patient rests on a bed in a hallway of the Rafic Hariri University Hospital (RHUH) in Lebanon's capital Beirut.

Source: STR/AFP/Getty Images

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS (SARAH EL DEEB)

Beirut (AP) -- Drenched in sweat, doctors check patients lying on stretchers in the reception area of Lebanon’s largest public hospital. Air conditioners are turned off, except in operating rooms and storage units, to save on fuel.

Medics scramble to find alternatives to saline solutions after the hospital ran out. The shortages are overwhelming, the medical staff exhausted. And with a new surge in coronavirus cases, Lebanon’s hospitals are at a breaking point.