The President of the Physicians' Syndicate in Beirut, Youssef Bakhach, condemned in a statement the "brutal assault" on Khaled Al-Khatib, the owner and director of Al-Manara Physicians Hospital, by a security guard from "Cascada Mall" in the Beqaa region. The assailant ambushed him and struck him from behind with a sharp object on the head and other parts of the body, resulting in a head injury, a broken arm, and bruises throughout the body. Bakhach urged the state and its judicial and security apparatus to "take strong action to put an end to the phenomenon of assaults on doctors and attacks against them," noting that such incidents have become part of daily life. He stated, "If there were deterrents, the doctor would not be turned into a punching bag."
Meanwhile, the Lebanese Hospitals Syndicate called on the security authorities to fully assume their responsibilities and provide protection for Dr. Khaled and all hospital staff, who continue their work under difficult living pressures that ought to be acknowledged with appropriate incentives to ensure the continuation of the services they provide. The syndicate urged a swift investigation into this incident to take necessary legal action and impose the severest penalties on the assailant, who is known, so that he serves as an example to any other aggressors.
In the statement, the syndicate remarked that "statements of condemnation and denunciation are no longer sufficient to prevent the recurrence of these incidents within hospitals, which are rapidly spreading across all Lebanese regions without accountability, turning the hospital and all its staff into a punching bag."
