The Libyan health system is severely under-equipped to face the challenges posed by the coronavirus, the International Organization for Migration (IOM) said Friday, as the total number of COVID-19 cases surpassed 81,000 in the country.
“Many public health facilities are facing a significant shortage of necessary medicines and equipment to continuously provide healthcare services amid the increase in the number of cases,” said the IOM.
It said that, with support from United Nations Central Emergency Response Fund Secretariat, IOM provided over 300 PPE kits and medicines to the COVID-19 isolation center in Zwara to fill a critical gap. Zwara is close to RasJedir border crossing point with Tunisia, serving as a critical hub to assist the cross-border travelers.
It also said that this week, an IOM charter flight brought home over 150 Ghanaians from Libya. “The COVID-19 pandemic makes a more coordinated approach needed to ensure no migrant is left behind.”
The IOM said Thursday that health care facilities in Libya like many other places across the world are grappling with the impact of the pandemic, “while a decade-long conflict and underinvestment heavily drained the national health sector.”
As part of its support to the Ministry of Health, the organization handed over a mobile clinic to Suq Aljumaa Municipality to help it improve the delivery of health services to the community.
Supported by the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the “clinic will provide comprehensive and integrated primary health care services to migrants, displaced population and host communities.”
“IOM will continue to collaborate with the local authorities to operate the clinic,” it added.
