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WORLD NEWS Thursday 12 March 2020
U.S. heart surgeon treats children lacking care in Libya’s war

By MSTYSLAV CHERNOV dren with heart problems
and FELIPE DANA the care they need, no
Associated Press matter where they're born.
TRIPOLI, Libya (AP) — Ya- While still a resident, Novick
zan, a 1-year-old Libyan began recruiting experts
boy, was born with con- to help him trek to places
genital heart disease. With where treatable heart dis-
just one chamber, the or- ease means death due to
gan pumped so little blood a shortage of specialists
that when Yazan cried, his and other restrictions.
skin turned black. Without Over nearly three decades,
surgery, he would not sur- Novick and his colleagues
vive. But Yazan's country, have made hundreds of
Libya, has only one heart trips to 32 countries includ-
surgeon who can't possibly ing Ukraine, Nigeria, Iraq,
perform surgeries on 1,200 Iran and Columbia.
or so infants born every Novick's Libya team in
year with heart defects. Of February consisted of 20
those, typically some 150 volunteers: cardiologists,
are in dire need of surgery surgeons, nurses and an-
and die in their first year, esthesiologists. The Associ-
said William Novick, an ated Press accompanied
American pediatric cardi- them as they performed
ac surgeon. 10 complex open-heart
His international team of Yazan, 1, sits with his mother before his heart surgery at the Tajoura National Heart Center in Tripoli, surgeries in the country's
experts, part of the Novick Libya, on Feb. 27, 2020. west. The group flies home
Cardiac Alliance, regularly Associated Press from Tripoli next week after
flies into Libya to perform from control of the weak like before," said Yazan's tiny body covered in ban- completing dozens more
surgery on patients like Ya- U.N.-backed government. father, Im Saleh Mohamed dages and tubes, to tell his operations.
zan. The fierce round of fighting Abudulfetah. parents the news. They ex- Political power in Libya to-
"To me this is simply an un- has killed hundreds of civil- On Feb. 26, Yazan's perilous pected Yazan to recover day is divided between
acceptable situation that ians, including at least 13 trek culminated in a five- well, and with a follow-up the two rival governments
needs our attention," said children since mid-January. hour surgery. Yazan is one operation, live a normal life. in the east and west of the
Novick, who lives in Mem- Novick's team was the best, of 1,000 children treated Under the fluorescent light country and a patchwork
phis, Tennessee. and perhaps last, hope for by Novick's group since it of the intensive care unit, of armed groups and for-
The medical trips help prop Yazan. But that meant his first came to Libya after the Abudulfetah touched his eign countries that support
up Libya's fragile health family had to travel to the 2011 uprising. baby's soft hair, murmur- either administration.
care system, which the most dangerous place in In the operating room, ing words of prayer. Ya- "We're on both sides of the
World Health Organization the war-ravaged country Novick and his team chat- zan's belly rose and fell with conflict zone," said Novick.
has described as overbur- — the capital Tripoli, where ted calmly as they cut steady breath. His cheeks "And that is a specific goal
dened, inefficient and short the Tajoura National Heart open Yazan's chest. They were even flushed a subtle of ours, to be apolitical and
of medicine and equip- Center is located. sewed together two large pink. help the children."
ment. Yazan's odyssey from his veins carrying blood from As a young medical resi- Novick's group not only
Libya has been plunged small desert hometown Yazan's head and con- dent at the University of drops in a few times a year,
into chaos since 2011, barely skirted the war's nected them to his pulmo- Alabama, Novick, now 66, but also trains Libyan doc-
when a civil war toppled front lines. With key high- nary artery. That sent oxy- witnessed the suffering of tors and nurses to build up
longtime dictator Moam- ways blocked because of genated blood straight to children with congenital the country's critical health
mar Gadhafi, who was fighting, his family took a his lungs. heart disease and the stag- care system.
later killed. Eastern-based 1,500-kilometer (932-mile) Eventually, exhausted nurs- gering disparities in health "We're not going to be here
opposition forces attacked detour. es wheeled Yazan out of services. He became de- forever and we shouldn't
Tripoli last spring to wrest it "You can't come to Tripoli the operating theater, his termined to try to give chil- be here forever," he said.q

Palestinians: 15-year-old killed in clash with Israeli army

Associated Press estinian witnesses said the Israeli military arrived Now said late last month that Israel is mov-
JERUSALEM (AP) — The Palestinian health min- to disperse the protest, and the protesters be- ing forward on plans to build more than 1,700
istry on Wednesday said Israeli troops shot and gan hurling stones at the soldiers. The witnesses homes for settlers in the West Bank.
killed a 15-year-old boy during clashes near the said the Israeli forces responded with tear gas The approvals came weeks after the Trump
West Bank city of Nablus. and rubber-coated bullets. administration unveiled its long-anticipated
The ministry says Mohammed Hamayel was The health ministry, however, said the deceased Mideast plan, which sides with Israel on many
shot in the head by a live bullet during confron- was struck by a live bullet. of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict's main points of
tations with Israeli soldiers in the village of Beita Clashes often erupt in the Israeli-occupied West contention. It envisions Israel annexing parts of
and died in a hospital shortly after. Bank between Palestinian protesters and the the West Bank, including its 120 settlements and
The Israeli military said it was responding to a Israeli military, which typically uses non-lethal the 500,000 settlers who live there. It falls short
"violent riot" of some 500 Palestinians, many of means to disperse the crowds. of granting the Palestinians a state, offering
whom hurled rocks at Israeli troops and set tires Israel captured in the West Bank in the 1967 them limited autonomy over disjointed chunks
on fire. It said it was reviewing the incident. Mideast war along with east Jerusalem and the of land but only if they meet a set of stringent
Palestinians said they were protesting at the site Gaza Strip, territories the Palestinians want for demands that would require them to drastically
in response to what they called an Israeli plan their future state. alter what has been their baseline for negotia-
to confiscate land for nearby settlements. Pal- The Israeli settlement watchdog group Peace tions for decades.q