The common thread among the sectors still receiving support from the Central Bank of Lebanon, namely gasoline, wheat, and medicine, is the delay in the Central Bank's payments to suppliers, making these sectors vulnerable to crises and experiencing shortages. However, the danger of the fluctuation in the healthcare sector within this equation lies in leaving the patient suspended between life and death.
It is true that the Cabinet approved in its last session, which took place in May, a request for the Central Bank to disburse $35 million monthly for the next four months to purchase medicines for chronic, critical, and cancerous diseases, medical supplies, infant formula, and raw materials for drug manufacturing. However, the Central Bank has yet to fulfill this payment, exacerbating the health crisis with a shortage of dialysis drugs, cardiac medications, and diabetes treatments. This reality has led to calls for completely lifting support from the sector, especially since patients are forced to purchase the missing medications from the black market at prices increased by dozens of times or order them from abroad, paying in dollars. Will this cry from the healthcare sector be the final one before support is completely withdrawn from the sector?
Suleiman Haroun, the head of the Hospital Owners Syndicate, told "Al-Jumhuriya" that the current problem comes amid a series of cuts to support for medical materials and medications. The sector has transitioned from full support to rationalization, and today we are getting closer to the complete withdrawal of support, with the surety that every step taken in this direction will be painful. He added: "We are faced with a bitter reality because the Lebanese state can no longer bear the cost of support, as evidenced by the fact that the Minister of Health managed in the last Cabinet session to secure approval for support from the Central Bank for the sector through providing about $140 million divided into $35 million monthly over four months. However, in reality, importers confirm that support funds have not yet reached them, suggesting that the Central Bank says one thing and acts contrary to it, which is at the heart of the problem." He pointed out that there is currently a trend to lift support for dialysis medications, which were fully supported, along with the filters used in the dialysis process, cancer medications, and others. Thus, all issues revolve around two points: Can the Central Bank provide support? And if it can, does it want to provide support? What we are asking for are two decisive answers to clarify the picture for us, as the sector and the patients can no longer withstand further burden.
In response to a question, Haroun stated that if the Central Bank's answer entails completely lifting support from the sector, patients will bear the consequences of this decision. He confirmed that a great disaster has occurred, as the vast majority of medications and medical supplies have become unsupported, resulting in their prices skyrocketing from one dollar or 1,500 lira to 28,000 lira, thus the cost has increased at least tenfold, and this will happen when support is completely lifted from the remaining supplies and medications. For example, the price of Taxotere 80 has risen from 500,000 lira to 9.5 million lira. He clarified: "The Lebanese community as a whole, including the state, guarantors, insurance companies, and patients, are not financially capable of providing medical care for citizens, and the only solution to this dilemma lies in securing financial support from abroad, and in the absence of this solution, the situation will worsen further."
On another note, Haroun revealed that more than 95% of hospitals have reduced their number of beds and staff, yet the occupancy rate does not exceed 50%, attributing this to the inability of Lebanese citizens to bear the cost of hospitalization even when it is covered, as they cannot afford the differences that sometimes reach tens to hundreds of millions. Notably, patients are staying home and their conditions worsen until they reach the hospital too late, such that the majority of cases have advanced to a severe state of illness.
Anticipated Solution?
In contrast, the companies importing medical supplies are trying to find a way out of the current cycle of shortages, especially since the lives of patients have become dependent on their availability. Based on this, the companies submitted a proposal yesterday to be discussed today with Minister of Health Firas Abiad, demanding a complete lifting of support for medical supplies pertaining to dialysis and cardiac care and redirecting it to patients directly and/or to hospitals, with companies committing to supporting prices until the end of June 2022 while considering supplies expected to arrive.
In this context, Salma Assi, the head of the Syndicate of Importers of Medical Supplies, explained to "Al-Jumhuriya" that our demand to lift support from medical materials comes after suffering for more than two years that the patient has borne. Thus, we submitted a proposal to solve the issue by directly converting the allocated funds from importing companies to the poorest patients instead of giving them to us, through increasing coverage from guarantor institutions. For example, instead of the guarantor institutions covering a dialysis session at one million lira, it could increase to 1.3 million lira or more, so the difference in support goes directly to the patient or hospitals, thus avoiding the interruption of these supplies from the market. Assi considered that all we are trying to do is find solutions before the catastrophe occurs.
She continued: "After the sector was fully supported with hundreds of thousands of dollars, support has decreased to $35 million monthly, covering the entire sector from cancer drugs to chronic drugs, leaving only a small amount for medical supplies, leading to their interruption, not to mention the Central Bank's delay in transferring funds, so we now have receivables of up to $50 million dating back to before February 2021, which has created a problem with foreign companies from which we import supported medical supplies such as dialysis and heart diseases, to the extent that they now refuse to deliver to us due to the accumulation of their receivables or the delayed payment." Assi indicated that the current stock of medical supplies is sufficient for the market for about a month to a month and a half. However, without solutions, we will not be able to continue importing.
