Georges Hayek (vegan): Owner of the World’s First Vegan Hospital, Part 1 of 2

Georges Hayek (vegan) comes from a Lebanese family that runs Hayek Hospital in Beirut, Lebanon. His family has run this facility for several generations. Georges had a major transformation in his life which led him to become one of the leading vegan advocates in Lebanon. Through this monumental change in outlook, he turned his hospital into a vegan one, including the food served, clothing worn and the furniture used within the facility. Many in the media have dubbed it “the world’s first vegan hospital.” He also founded Lebanese Vegans, a non-profit that promotes animal-people rights and the vegan diet.

“I figured out that we've been lied to all this time by the mainstream media and by the lobbyists. All they care about is making money out of those poor animals, and they make money out of manipulating us good people. So, I decided to stop eating animals”. After turning vegan, Mr. Hayek wanted to become an advocate for animal-people. He launched an endeavor to share the good news of how we can feed ourselves and live in harmony with our animal friends as well.

Being in the healthcare business, Georges saw the possibilities of introducing meals free of animal-people products to both patients and medical practitioners at Hayek Hospital. Mr. Hayek used a variety of tools to help get the vital vegan message across to those involved in changing the way his hospital was run. “And all the educational programs, especially the health aspects, mentioned that the WHO classified meat as carcinogenic. There’s no place for carcinogenic food in a hospital or in any healthcare institution that is supposed to be treating cancers and chronic diseases.”

Hayek Hospital was presented the Shining World Compassion Award by Supreme Master Ching Hai (vegan) in 2021 for exclusively serving vegan food at the facility. His Lebanese Vegans group was presented the Shining World Vegan Incentive Award in 2021 for providing over 2,000 families with free vegan food every day after the August 2020 explosion at Beirut’s port, and its many vegan promotion activities. It also received a humble token contribution of US$20,000 from Master to further its caring endeavors.