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Order of Malta’s Grand Hospitaller visits Lebanon, strengthening healthcare and humanitarian outreach

Grand Hospitaller Josef Blotz visited the Lebanese Association of the Order of Malta in late February and toured its health centres, meeting beneficiaries, partners, and volunteers across the country. For those affected by Lebanon’s economic hardship and emigration, the Order’s support remains an indispensable pillar of dignity.

Near Beirut, the Grand Hospitaller visited the St John the Baptist Community Health Centre in Ain el-Remmaneh, meeting with doctors, paramedics, and administrative teams. At the Association’s headquarters in Badaro, he met the Association’s leaders of the health, social, and agro-humanitarian sectors and discussed primary healthcare issues, mobile medical units, food distribution programmes for the poor and elderly, support for displaced and refugee populations, and the expanding role of the six agro-humanitarian centres serving small- and medium-scale farmers.

In Tripoli and Zgharta, the Grand Hospitaller visited the Mobile Medical and Paediatrics Units stationed at the Carmelite Fathers’ school, which provides consultations, medication, referrals and school health services.
He also toured the Community Health Centre in Khaldieh, operated in partnership with the Antonine Sisters, and a Mobile Community Kitchen which distributes hot meals to vulnerable populations.

In the Northeast Beqaa Valley, the delegation visited a settlement for Syrian refugees in Sahel Younine, where the Order’s Mobile Medical and Dental Units deliver essential care amid increasingly precarious conditions.
At the Community Health Centre in Barqa, founded in 1985 and dedicated to the martyr Father Nikolas Kluiters, and managed with the Saint Cœur Sisters, the Grand Hospitaller witnessed both the growing needs of isolated rural communities and the dedication of staff serving them. The programme also included visits to the agro-humanitarian centres in Mejdlaya and Btedai, where nurseries, agricultural support services, and a newly established distillery for aromatic and medicinal plants strengthen rural livelihoods. The visit concluded at the Warm House in Beirut-Chiyah, where the Grand Hospitaller shared a meal with elderly beneficiaries alongside young volunteers.