Under the patronage and presence of H.E. Metropolitan of Beirut and its dependencies for the Greek Orthodox the Archbishop Elias Audi, Saint George Hospital University Medical Center celebrates the opening of the newly built helipad located on the roof of the Saint George Hospital University Medical Center Complex on Thursday, July 19, 2012.
Several maneuvers landings were conducted by the Air Forces of the Lebanese army and the UNIFIL forces with a simulation of an emergency evacuation of war related trauma in cooperation with our trauma team of technical, nursing and medical staff.
Was Present at the opening the Ambassador of Greece Mrs. Catherine Boura, His Excellency the Minister of the National Defense Mr. Fayez Ghosn, Force Commander of the UNIFIL in South Lebanon, General Paolo Serra, the Lebanese Army Commanders, the Head Officers of the UNIFIL, the internal security forces, Director General of Civil Defense, Fire Brigade of Beirut, the Lebanese Red Cross, Board members of the hospital, the CEO, Mr. Salam Rayes, the Medical Director, Dr. Imad Hajj, Deans of the faculty of Medicine and the Faculty of Public Health and Sciences at the University of Balamand, Dr. Camille Nassar and Dr. Nadim Karam, Chairman and members of the Greek Orthodox Organization for Development and Aid (GOODA), H.E. Mr. Yaacoub Sarraf, directors and Managers of the hospital.
Building a helipad on the roof of Saint George Hospital was part of the project working on the implementation of the phase II of the hospital complex. The work started with the reconstruction of the building. The execution of the helipad project was made feasible, thanks to the generous support of the Greek Government and Hellenic Aid that partially funded this project in 2009.
Early this year, the Lebanese Forces Army had designated the helipad of Saint George Hospital, for air evacuation day and night.
It is in this same spirit of cooperation that the United Nations officials recently signed an agreement with Saint George Hospital University Medical Center for medical cooperation and coverage of hospitalization needs of its personnel and related troops serving in Lebanon.
This agreement, in addition to the routine medical services and surgical interventions, allows the UNIFIL force in southern Lebanon to use the helipad for the landing in case of emergency and emergency incidents that require quick evacuation by helicopter.
