Medical Devices and Supplies Enough Only Until the End of August

The Lebanese Syndicate of Importers of Medical Devices and Supplies announced that the goods available in their warehouses are barely sufficient until the end of August. A statement was issued stating: "1- We have been informed by the suppliers of medical supplies, particularly dialysis supplies which are essentially subsidized by the central bank, that transfers from the Central Bank of Lebanon have started to suffer from unjustified delays. Some outstanding invoices are more than a year old. Since this delay has become intolerable for suppliers, they have informed their agents in Lebanon that it is impossible to fulfill any new orders unless their previous dues are settled first, and then the new order must be paid for in advance. Therefore, we must inform you, to lift the responsibility off our shoulders, that the goods available in our warehouses are barely enough until the end of August this year, and we propose applying the same policy that was previously followed by the Central Bank regarding fuel in general and gasoline in particular, meaning that required amounts should be converted before releasing goods in the Lebanese markets at subsidized prices. Otherwise, we are unable to continue importing. 2- In this context, companies are demanding a complete cessation of support for cardiac supplies by the Ministry of Health and its direct transfer to patients or hospitals. Accordingly, companies will comply with the support prices until the end of September 2022 while taking into account the expected incoming supplies, hoping that the Ministry of Health will respond to their appeal, knowing that companies will not be able to import after this date according to the current support mechanism, especially since foreign suppliers will stop delivering additional supplies due to their outstanding dues with the central bank. 3- The syndicate urges the Ministry of Health to consider and decide on the issue of suspending electronic linking and transferring it to paper transactions only until the public sector employees' strike ends, and to instruct the Higher Customs Council to temporarily suspend electronic processing to mitigate the damage resulting from delays in clearing medical and pharmaceutical materials from customs. 4- The syndicate demands that the central bank release payment for all other outstanding invoices from companies that have been stuck with the central bank for over two years, valued at more than fifty million dollars, concerning all other medical supplies to prevent reaching a shortage of all supplies."