Lebanese doctor races to save eyes after tech device explodes – NBC10 Philadelphia

Ophthalmologist Elias Jaradeh has been working around the clock for nearly a week to keep up with the influx of patients in Lebanon whose eyes have been injured by the mass explosion of pagers and walkie-talkies.

He has lost count of the number of eye surgeries he has performed in multiple hospitals, surviving on two hours of sleep before the next surgery. He has managed to save the sight of some patients, but many will never see again.

“When you see so many people coming to the hospital at the same time with eye injuries, there is no doubt that what is happening is extremely tragic. Most of them are young men, but there are also children and young women,” he told The Associated Press at a Beirut hospital last week, fighting back tears.

Lebanon’s hospitals and medics were overwhelmed when thousands of portable devices belonging to the militant group Hezbollah exploded simultaneously on Tuesday and Wednesday last week, killing at least 39 people. About 3,000 more were injured, some with life-changing disabilities. Israel is widely believed to be behind the attack, but has neither confirmed nor denied it.

Although the explosions appeared to target Hezbollah fighters, most of the victims were civilians. And many of those injured in the attack suffered injuries to their hands, faces and eyes because they were receiving messages just before the devices exploded, so they were looking at them as they went off.

Authorities did not say how many people lost their eyes.

Seasoned and experienced Lebanese ophthalmologists who have dealt with the aftermath of numerous wars, civil unrest and explosions said they had never seen anything like it.

Jaradeh, a reformist lawmaker representing southern Lebanon, said most of the patients sent to his hospital, which specializes in ophthalmology, were young people with significant damage to one or both eyes. He said some had plastic and metal shrapnel inside their eyes.

Four years ago, a powerful explosion rocked the port of Beirut, killing more than 200 people and injuring more than 6,000. The explosion, which involved hundreds of tons of ammonium nitrate that had been unsafely stored in a port warehouse, blew out windows and doors for miles, sending shards of glass flying onto the streets, causing horrific injuries.

Jaradeh also treated people injured in the port explosion, but his experience with people injured by exploding pagers and radios was much more intense because of the large number of people with eye injuries.

“It took us 48 hours to contain the shock after the Beirut port explosion, but we are not at the level where we can contain the shock now,” Jaradeh said.

Jaradeh said it’s hard to separate the profession of a doctor from his emotions in the operating room.

“No matter what they teach you in medical school about keeping your distance, I think in a situation like this, when you see the number of casualties, it’s very difficult. This is connected to a war against Lebanon and humanity,” Jaradeh said.

Hezbollah leader says daily attacks on Israel will continue.