Medical Support for 2006 War victim in Lebanon – Nemreh Hussein and Samira Hallal

“Darkness cannot drive out darkness, only light can do that”

Dr. Martin Luther King

Project Achievements and Realized Progress.

Case Background

The living conditions and degree of support for vulnerable social groups is one of the most valid indicators for assessing how healthy a society is. Unfortunately, it is appalling how the elderly are treated in Lebanon. Especially elderly men and women who don’t have any close relatives are completely left to their own devises to survive.

Nemreh Hussein is 74 years old and lives in the village of Nijjarieh in South Lebanon. Nemreh never married, hence she has no children. She lives on her own in a very modest little house close to her two brothers, who both are simple laborers on daily wages and have to care for their families. All her life, Nemreh subsisted on what little support her brothers were able to offer and charity from neighbours and acquaintances.

Samira Hallal is in a similar situation. The 68-year-old was widowed several years ago. Samirah is childless, and after her husband’s death the only regular income she has is US$ 100.00 a month from a local benefactor. She, too, receives charitable donations from neighbours, mainly cooked food.

Both women have no health insurance coverage and the only support with the cost of health care they can obtain after a lengthy application process is direct support from the ministry of health for hospital treatment.

As Nemreh grew older, she developed health problems, notably arthritis. For many years, Nemreh lived with this non-life-threatening disease and endured the pain without receiving more than the most rudimentary medical care. Recently, however, her condition took a turn for the worse when she developed osteonecrosis in her hip joint and the pain became unbearable and affected her mobility. Nemreh needed surgery, either hip joint fusion, a today little-used procedure that would make her walk with great difficulty with a severe limp for the rest of her life, or a – much more expensive – total hip replacement, which would preserve her mobility. Because Nemreh lives alone and needs to be able to take care of herself, staying mobile is of vital importance to her.

Samira suffers from type 2 diabetes. Because she could not afford her medications she eventually developed a frequent complication, coronary heart disease. Fearing the cost of treatment more than the disease itself, Samira endured the periodic chest pain until the disease became life-threatening. A heart specialist discovered that 70 percent of Samira’s coronary arteries are clogged. She did not respond to treatment with blood thinners and her only option was angioplasty to open her arteries and insertion of a stent.

When Nemreh learned that a total hip replacement costs about US$ 5,500.00, of which the Lebanese MoH would carry US$ 4,500.00, despair closed in on her. There was no way she or her impoverished brothers could afford to pay $1000 for her surgery. Nemreh had always been independent in her personal affairs and hated to be a burden on others. Now, she had to imagine being dependent on help for the rest of her life.

Samira felt the same when learning that after obtaining support from the MoH, she would have to pay US$ 685.00 for her surgery. Although that sounds like a small sum, especially compared to the total cost, for Samira this made no difference: She did not have a single Dollar to contribute towards her treatment cost.

The LFT Lebanon team became acquainted with Nemreh and Samira when implementing the Ramadhan 2010 assistance project. Realizing their desperate situation and urgent medical need, the LFT Lebanon team submitted their cases to LFT’s Board of Trustees in London for approval. The board appraised the two cases and granted support amounting to US$ 1,000.00 to Nemreh and US$ 685.00 to Samira:

Old age is a burden in itself, and few of us will be spared this burden.

Dear LFT donors: please, imagine the time in your life when you will be old and in need of different forms of care and enable us to assist Nemreh, Samira and other brothers and sisters like them the way you hope to be assisted when the time comes.