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WEEKLY NEWSLETTER
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Libya
Index
The number of physicians and surgeons in practice increased
fivefold between 1965 and 1974, and large increases were registered
in the number of dentists, medical, and paramedical personnel.
Further expansion and improvement followed over the next decade in
response to large budgetary outlays, as the revolutionary regime
continued to use its oil income to improve the health and welfare
of all Libyans. The number of doctors and dentists increased from
783 in 1970 to 5,450 in 1985, producing in the case of doctors a
ratio of 1 per 673 citizens. These doctors were attached to a
comprehensive network of health care facilities that dispensed free
medical care. The number of hospital beds increased from 7,500 in
1970 to almost 20,000 by 1985, an improvement from 3.5 beds to 5.3
beds per 1,000 citizens. During the same years, substantial
increases were also registered in the number of clinics and health
care centers.
A large proportion of medical and paramedical personnel were
foreigners brought in under contract from other Arab countries and
from Eastern Europe. The major efforts to "Libyanize" health care
professionals, however, were beginning to show results in the mid1980s . Libyan sources claimed that approximately 33 percent of all
doctors were nationals in 1985, as compared with only about 6
percent a decade earlier. In the field of nursing staff and
technicians, the situation was considerably better--about 80
percent were Libyan. Schools of nursing had been in existence since
the early 1960s, and the faculties of medicine in the universities
at Tripoli and Benghazi included specialized institutes for nurses
and technicians. The first medical school was not established until
1970, and there was no school of dentistry until 1974. By 1978 a
total of nearly 500 students was enrolled in medical studies at
schools in Benghazi and Tripoli, and the dental school in Benghazi
had graduated its first class of 23 students. In addition, some
students were pursuing graduate medical studies abroad, but in the
immediate future Libya was expected to continue to rely heavily on
expatriate medical personnel.
Among the major health hazards endemic in the country in the
1970s were typhoid and paratyphoid, infectious hepatitis,
leishmaniasis, rabies, meningitis, schistosomiasis, and venereal
diseases. Also reported as having high incidence were various
childhood diseases, such as whooping cough, mumps, measles, and
chicken pox. Cholera occurred intermittently and, although malaria
was regarded as having been eliminated in the 1960s, malaria
suppressants were often recommended for use in desert oasis areas.
By the early 1980s, it was claimed that most or all of these
diseases were under control. A high rate of trachoma formerly left
10 percent or more of the population blinded or with critically
impaired vision, but by the late 1970s the disease appeared to have
been brought under control. The incidence of new cases of
tuberculosis was reduced by nearly half between 1969 and 1976, and
twenty-two new centers for tuberculosis care were constructed
between 1970 and 1985. By the early 1980s, two rehabilitation
centers for the handicapped had been built, one each in Benghazi
and Tripoli. These offered both medical and job-training services
and complemented the range of health care services available in the
country.
The streets of Tripoli and Benghazi were kept scrupulously
clean, and drinking water in these cities was of good quality. The
government had made significant efforts to provide safe water. In
summing up accomplishments since 1970, officials listed almost
1,500 wells drilled and more than 900 reservoirs in service in
1985, in addition to 9,000 kilometers of potable water networks and
44 desalination plants. Sewage disposal had also received
considerable attention, twenty-eight treatment plants having been
built.
Data as of 1987
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