Caretaker Health Minister Firass Abiad in July 2021. (Credit : AFP file)
BEIRUT — Government entities and NGOs have agreed to supply water treatment plants in northern Lebanon with electricity, caretaker Health Minister Firass Abiad announced on Tuesday, amid concerns about the possible spread of cholera in the country as the latest case count reached 18.
The recorded cases so far are in Akkar governorate and in the town of Arsal, both in northern Lebanon, a Health Ministry spokesperson told L'Orient Today on Monday.
Lebanon recorded its first cholera case since a 1993 outbreak on Thursday in Akkar. According to the most recent World Health Organization count, the 18 cases so far recorded in Lebanon come after more than 13,000 reported cholera cases and 60 deaths in neighboring Syria since August.
Cholera is often spread through contaminated water.
"An agreement has been reached to provide electricity to water treatment and distribution stations in northern Lebanon, in consultation with the Interior Ministry and NGOs," Abiad announced on Tuesday. Speaking from the Grand Serail in Beirut, Abiad also said that a meeting would be held there again on Wednesday with several organizations providing aid for Syrian refugees on Lebanese soil.
Abiad called on these groups to "assume their responsibilities" and had criticized over the weekend "a decline in aid from our international partners, under many pretexts [...] Of course, we do not accept these excuses, because we believe that the resolution of the issue of displaced people that has lasted for 11 years is not the sole responsibility of Lebanon, but also and primarily of the international community" he said, referring to the war in Syria that began in 2011.
Lebanon's health system has been hit hard by an unprecedented financial crisis, as well as by the Aug. 4, 2020 Beirut port explosion, which destroyed essential medical infrastructure in the capital. Minister Abiad said that despite humanitarian aid from donor countries, the health sector would struggle to cope with a large-scale cholera outbreak.