Private Hospitals, Doctors Go on Strike over Child Case Ruling

Lebanon’s private hospitals on Monday began a strike that will last until Saturday in protest at a judicial verdict that has been issued in the case of the child Ella Tannous.

“The Syndicate of Hospitals in Lebanon announces that the admission of patients into the various departments of all private hospitals, including outpatient clinics, will be suspended from today until Saturday, May 15, 2021, except for emergency cases and dialysis and chemical therapy patients,” the Syndicate said in a statement.

The Order of Physicians in Lebanon had also declared a one-week strike on Sunday.

In a statement, the Order called on all doctors to only receive emergency cases at their clinics.

The Court of Appeal for Misdemeanors in Beirut has issued a sentence in the case of the child, who in 2015 lost her limbs due to a medical error.

The sentence ordered the American University of Beirut Medical Center, the Notre Dame De Secours-Jbeil Hospital and the doctors Issam M. and Rana Sh. to collectively pay LBP 9 billion in compensations to the child, in addition to a lifelong monthly income that is worth fourfold the minimum wage.

The verdict also ordered the convicts to collectively pay LBP 500 million to the child’s father and another LBP 500 million to the child’s mother.