Lebanon's hospitals may run out of vital medical supplies within days – WHO

GENEVA - Some of Lebanon's hospitals could run out of life-saving trauma medical kits within days as supplies near depletion following mass casualties from large-scale Israeli strikes over the past day, the World Health Organization said on Thursday.

The life-saving trauma kits include bandages, antibiotics and anaesthetics to treat patients who sustained war-related injuries, the WHO stated.

"Some of the trauma management supplies were in short (supply) and we may run out in a few days," Dr Abdinasir Abubakar, the WHO's representative in Lebanon, told Reuters.

Israel bombed more targets in Lebanon on Thursday after its biggest attacks of the war on its neighbour on Wednesday killed more than 250 people and more than 1,000 were injured.

"If we have another mass casualty, like what happened yesterday, it will be a disaster," Abubakar said.

"Probably we will lose more lives just because we don't have enough supplies," he added.

Shortages of supplies of trauma kits have been driven by a surge in recent casualties - the majority of whom are civilians - with roughly three weeks' worth of supplies being depleted in one day, Abubakar stated.

COSTS SURGE

Medicines to treat patients with chronic disease, such as insulin for diabetes patients, could also run out within weeks after supply chains were disrupted by the war in the Gulf and the closure of the Strait of Hormuz, Abubakar said.

Delivery costs of medical supplies into Lebanon have surged three times, while the WHO also faces constrained funding, he added.

The WHO said it and the Lebanese Ministry of Health were planning to move supplies between hospitals to avoid total depletion of stocks, but cautioned that the health system is being stretched to its limit.

More than one million people have been displaced across Lebanon since the conflict began on March 2, following joint U.S.-Israeli strikes on Iran in late February, according to the United Nations.

-Reporting by Olivia Le Poidevin in Geneva; additional reporting by Maya Gebeily in Beirut. editing by Matthias Williams, Kirsti Knolle and Keith Weir/Reuters