Beirut, Lebanon – Over the past six months, Rafik Hariri University Hospital in Beirut has been plagued by power cuts, a shortage of medicines and a growing number of migrant workers to find better jobs.
But now, with medical support a little higher, local government doctors in Lebanon’s capital are terrified.
“We can expect people to die,” Dr Mahmoud Hassoun, the hospital’s director, told Al Jazeera.
“How can you help a patient when there is a high cost of treatment?”
The Ministry of Health Firas Abiad earlier this month announced a slight reduction in the benefits, in addition to other chronic illnesses. The move has pushed up the price of antiretroviral drugs, further exacerbating the medical crisis that has halted Lebanon’s health system.
The cost of one anti-depressant drug has risen six times. Some drugs, such as those prescribed for dementia such as depression and schizophrenia, are now three times more expensive, according to the Lebanon nonprofit organization Embrace.
Hassoun said the hospital should continue to rely on the support of non-governmental organizations for food and put some patients ahead of others.
Lawmaker Bilal Abdullah, who is also a member of parliament’s health committee, told Al Jazeera Central Bank “it likes to spend about $ 120m on medical care” per month. “Now he can donate $ 35m.”
Lebanon has already experienced economic hardship that has left nearly a third of the population living in poverty. The Lebanese pound, in the last two years, has lost about 90 percent of its value compared to the United States dollar, while the ongoing political turmoil has recently dampened any economic prospects.
The health sector in the country has been severely affected. Hospitals already suffering from a shortage of medical equipment and staff – Rafik Hariri University Hospital, co-founder of COVID-19 in Lebanon, has been working with half its capacity – and are failing to get enough fuel for power outages and operating machinery. . Meanwhile, governments have failed to stop drug dealers from smuggling, as well as to prevent the smuggling and sale of their products on the black market at exorbitant prices.
“Our factories are already devoid of drugs,” physician Joe Salloum told Al Jazeera. “Drug traffickers are out of money, and citizens have fewer opportunities.”
In May, the Central Bank refused to set aside foreign currency to provide medical care. Two months later, when stockpiles were depleted, the affected country slightly raised funds to provide supplies such as vitamins and painkillers that cost 12,000 Lebanese pounds or less, including the cost of buying wheat and oil.
In an interview Thursday, Abiad, the health minister, described this month’s move to treat chronic illness as “necessary” and tried to allay fears that medical treatment would be completely eliminated.
Abiad said people “have a right to express their grief” and said they wanted to promote the development of about 500 drugs for chronic illness.
‘Bad plans but a way of life’
Experts say the entire Lebanese financial system, including medicine, has been more beneficial to the rich than the poor. Numerous studies show that because the policy does not target high-risk individuals but is applicable to all groups, high-income earners benefit greatly from their ability to spend more. According to a study by the International Labor Organization, 80 percent of those who earn less than 80 percent are earning less than 80 percent.
Leila Dagher, an assistant professor of economics at the American University of Beirut, said Lebanon had spent billions of dollars to secure the program.
“It was wrong from the beginning,” Dagher, who is also the director of the Lebanese Center for Policy Studies, told Al Jazeera. “However, we have repeatedly warned that due to the economic downturn, Lebanese families will be severely affected by the withdrawal of the aid and will therefore have to pay for the grant program.”
The government has long pledged to establish a card issuance system to cater for 500,000 vulnerable families and reduce the cost of disbursements. But it has not been able to secure foreign funding amid political turmoil and the Central Bank’s refusal to use its $ 556m reserves.
“There is no clear time for the ‘long-awaited’ receiving card ‘to be issued and I have never heard a single valid reason,” Dagher said.
“Togo, like Lebanon, does not have a public hub but was able to set up a program to help more than half a million people within four weeks.”
Meanwhile, Olivier De Schutter, the United Nations Special Rapporteur on Poverty and Human Rights who recently met with Lebanese officials and families in distress, said government officials were aware of the dire consequences but told him that withdrawing the money was “inevitable”.
“You can’t raise aid – whether bread or wheat or medicine – without strengthening the purchasing power of the poor by raising low wages and improving social security, which is very low these days,” De Schutter told Al Jazeera.
“I think we have to be very careful in following up.”
