On Saturday, the Minister of Health of the Libyan Interim Government, Saad Agoub, and the Mayor of Tobruk’s Municipality, Faraj Bu Al-Khattabiya, inaugurated 4 new health centres in the city.
The Health Minister also inaugurated a blood centre in the Al-Manara neighbourhood, which was equipped with the latest blood draw devices for all blood medical tests. Additionally, Agoub inaugurated a new branch for the Motherhood and Childhood Centre in Bab Derna.
He also inaugurated a medical analysis laboratory for suspected coronavirus cases in Tobruk Medical Centre, which was equipped with a “PCR” analyser to save efforts and time in detecting coronavirus cases accurately.
In addition, the health minister, and the municipality mayor inaugurated Omar Al-Mukhtar Hospital in Tobruk.
Agoub was briefed on the equipment provided by the Ministry of Health for this hospital, which serves a large geographical area and eases the burden on Tobruk’s Medical Centre.
Notably, the World Health Organisation (WHO) has warned of the repercussions of the continued closure of health isolation centres in southern Libya and noted that the number of cases in the country has increased by 22%, during the past two weeks.
The Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs of the United Nations (OCHA) said that the WHO confirmed that more than 5% of samples tested positive. It pointed out that the overall death toll has decreased.
The WHO indicated that all four health isolation centres in southern Libya remain closed. This is due to a lack of staff, personal protective equipment, and supplies. It reported that there were about 60,000 confirmed cases in Libya, including 831 deaths. Figures have rapidly increased from a few hundred in August, to almost around 60,000 at this time.