Caretaker Health Minister Firass Abiad, on Saturday, launched a vaccination campaign against the cholera epidemic during a tour in the Akkar and North Governorates, which he began this morning from Halba Governmental Hospital where he was received by the Hospital’s Director, Dr. Muhammad Khadrin, and its medical staff.

After a meeting and a tour at the Hospital, Minister Abiad held a press conference in which he said: “Today we are in the first line of defense in Halba Governmental Hospital, which was the first to receive cholera cases, and the purpose of the visit today is to reassure our people, as we noticed that the services provided by the hospital are good.”

He indicated that stability in the number of cholera cases arriving at the hospital has been detected, which is generally a good indicator.

“We are part of the plan developed by the Ministry of Health in cooperation with our partners from the World Health Organization, UNICEF and the High Commissioner for Refugees, and we discussed the expansion of government hospitals, so that if there were increases in cases, we would be able to absorb,” Abiad continued to reassure.

“We toured the departments that were newly prepared with the right cholera treatment specifications and proper sanitation,” Abiad maintained, asserting that “the new departments are fully prepared in the event of an increase in infections.”

The Health Minister went on to affirm that “the most important part of today’s tour is the launch of the cholera vaccination campaign,” adding that 13,400 doses have been made available for Lebanon, with the first batch being from France.

He saluted everyone for their efforts as a “one team” in order to preserve the health and safety of the Lebanese and the displaced.