TOKYO - An escalation of the Middle East conflict following U.S.-Israeli strikes on Iran has placed health care aid under pressure, the head of Medecins Sans Frontieres said in a recent interview, highlighting the humanitarian impact on people displaced also in Lebanon.
Citing a "huge amount of violence" in Iran, MSF International President Javid Abdelmoneim said, "So the first important thing is to make sure that our staff are safe, and the next thing is to make sure that the services we're running can continue, because health care doesn't stop when there is a war."
The organization, also known as Doctors Without Borders, had been running three projects in Iran before Feb. 28, when the United States and Israel launched airstrikes on Iran, providing medical consultations and infectious disease treatment, among other support, to marginalized people.
All the clinics shut down for a few days after the outbreak of the war, but two that largely support Afghan refugees are now operating, while the one in Tehran remains closed, according to Abdelmoneim, a British-born Sudanese Iranian emergency medicine doctor.
He also said his organization is negotiating with authorities to try to have clinics open 24 hours "so that if there are wounded civilians, we'll be able to treat them."
In an update posted on its website Thursday, MSF said the Tehran clinic, which has provided health care to people engaged in sex work, people who use drugs, as well as migrants and refugees, will "soon reopen as a more specialized clinic" to strengthen support for local health systems responding to conflict-related needs, following authorization granted in mid-March.
During the interview in Tokyo, Abdelmoneim expressed strong concern over the humanitarian crisis in Lebanon, where Israeli military operations against the Iran-backed Hezbollah militant group in the country's south have displaced more than 1 million people.
"All the health care services in the area where those people have moved now will have to manage a much larger population than they have been expected to do," he said, highlighting potential strains on hospital systems and risks for those needing regular care, such as dialysis patients.
The doctor, whose recent roles with MSF included serving as a medical team leader in Gaza, said he expects "similar patterns" in southern Lebanon to those seen in the Palestinian territory amid the conflict between Israeli and Hamas forces, citing Israeli military displacement orders followed by airstrikes and the destruction of civilian infrastructure.
Noting that many people in Lebanon have been issued evacuation orders by the Israeli military, Abdelmoneim said, "The population has had to leave its home, and that means they have health needs. And so, we're trying to mobilize what we can to support that population."
The organization has established more than 10 mobile medical teams to offer primary health care consultations and distribute water, food and other aid to displaced people in Lebanon.
MSF workers in Syria are preparing for an expected influx of displaced people, he said.
