By Mohammed Zaatari
SIDON, Lebanon: A Syrian child refugee suspected of having contracted Tuberculosis was referred Saturday to a hospital in the southern coastal city of Sidon.
“My son began coughing relentlessly, he couldn’t breathe and we rushed him to the closest clinic,” the father of Issa Issa, Asaad, who works at a local farm, told The Daily Star.
The 1-year-old was first given a medical examination at a clinic belonging to the United Nations Interim Forces in Lebanon where doctors suspected the boy had TB, an infectious and sometimes lethal pulmonary disease.
After contacting the International Medical Committee, an organization affiliated with U.N., the doctors referred Issa to Al-Rai Hospital in Sidon, where the boy was immediately admitted into an intensive care unit given the severity of his symptoms.
Issa, whose parents fled violence in Aleppo two years ago, lives with 13 of his relatives in a small makeshift tent in Sahl Sarda, in the Wazzani area of Sidon.
The boy’s father said there were several cases of children coughing among the refugees living in Sahl Sarda.
Doctor Ihsan al-Hijazi, who is treating Issa at the Pediatrics Department of the hospital, said “if the boy’s case is proven to be Tuberculosis then all 13 relatives and surrounding refugees should be screened.”
The hospital has reported Issa’s case to the Health Ministry in order to take the necessary precautions and carry out medical checkups at the area where the refugees are living.
Earlier this week, an 8-month-old Palestinian infant from Syria died due to a severe illness contracted as a result of the dire living conditions at the makeshift Karama gathering in the northeastern side of the Ain al-Hilweh refugee camp in Sidon.
Cases of scabies and lice have increased among Syrian refugees across the country due to poor living conditions.
The International Medical Committee has volunteered to pay Issa’s hospital expenses.
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03/08/2013
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