Report: Haifa Hospital In Middle Of Violence
Josephine Roque - All Headline News Staff Writer (AHN) - Haifa's Rambam Medical Center feels the mounting tension as missile bombing casualties and wounded soldiers are filling up the wards. The hospital has had to contend with being in the line of fire, a first during its 98-year history. "It's very difficult psychologically," said Professor Lael-Anson Best, the Indian-born head of thoracic surgery. He adds, "It's the first time the home front has been attacked. Even during the [1973] Yom Kippur War, Haifa was safe. But now we can be hit at the same rate as everyone else." The hospital was on the brink of disaster a few days ago when a missile attacked the apartment block located 500 meters (1,640 feet) away from the hospital. "Even if Hezbollah say they're not deliberately targeting the hospital, they don't know where a rocket is going to land," said Prof Best. "There's no ethics of war out here." The close calls have only added to the regular stress that the hospital medical staff goes through. Surgeons have to do with carrying out operations with the sound of sirens in the background every few minutes and the cold thud of a landing missile. "We have had to deal with large-scale incidents in the past, such as suicide attacks which have caused 100 casualties," Professor Raphael Beyar, the center's director, told BBC. "But the victims have been spread between hospitals." He adds, "What is di |
