LIBYANS INJURED in the war to unseat Muammar Gadafy are to be flown to Ireland for treatment, with the first patients expected to arrive within weeks.
Plans are being made for Irish medical personnel to travel to the north African country to select wounded Libyans for specialist care in Ireland.
Hundreds of Libyans have already travelled abroad, mostly to Germany, Italy, Jordan, Turkey and Tunisia, for treatment, particularly for spinal injuries and burns, and to have shrapnel and bullets removed.
The offer to have injured Libyans treated in Ireland was made by Tánaiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs Eamon Gilmore in meetings with representatives of Libya’s interim government, the National Transitional Council.
Dr Fatima Hamroush, an ophthalmologist who has lived in Ireland for 16 years, is co-ordinating efforts to bring several dozen patients to Ireland.
She is a co-director of Irish-Libyan Emergency Aid and head of the newly established Libyan Health Office in Ireland.
Dr Hamroush said she was discussing the possibility of having the wounded Libyans treated at the Blackrock and Mater clinics in Dublin and the Bons Secours Hospital in Galway. All treatment, which will include orthopaedic, plastic and reconstructive surgery, and travel will be funded by Libya’s interim authorities, she added.
“These are people who require surgery as a result of shrapnel and bullet wounds,” Dr Hamroush said. “In several cases the treatment they need is not available in Libya or even Tunisia, where many have gone seeking medical care. We are trying to bring them to Ireland because we believe there is a good standard of care here and this would be a good start to build new relations between the two countries. That is important.”
Care of Libya’s war wounded has become a controversial subject in the country as the new post-Gadafy dispensation takes shape. There have been protests in Tripoli and other towns calling on the interim government to do more to assist the injured.