The Corona pandemic is almost outside the priorities of the Lebanese, in conjunction with the accumulation of other health crises. The Lebanese today cannot secure the required medicine, either due to the high price of it after the lifting of subsidies, or because it is lost in pharmacies. He also hopes that he will not need to be hospitalized, given the high costs in light of the failure of insurance and insurance to meet the required costs. As for the Minister of Health in the current government, Dr. Firas Abyad, he proposed some solutions that the ministry has started in an attempt to curb the severity of the crisis.
The fate of medicines
A new crisis affects the pharmaceutical sector in Lebanon, after pharmacies and importers refused to sell medicines according to the new indicator. It determines the price of imported, unsubsidized medicines, according to the change in the dollar’s exchange rate on the black market.
Some pharmacists are certain that the dollar exchange rate will rise again. They stock up on medicines and refrain from selling them, under the pretext that they are cut off, or that companies have not delivered them. But in fact, they are waiting for the index to rise again in order to avoid losing or to profit more. From here, Minister Abyad works to activate the role of the inspection committee in the Ministry of Health, which tours pharmacies and monitors. However, this committee faces a problem, the first of which is that the number of inspectors is small, and the second of which is the fuel crisis. The high price of fuel constitutes an obstacle to their movement, but the Ministry was finally able to secure the required amount of fuel.
The Pharmacists Syndicate was also allowed to expand its inspection tasks, no longer just confined to monitoring bills or the quantity of medicines, but also expanding to monitoring prices approved by pharmacies, in addition to ensuring their compliance with the prices issued by the Ministry of Health.
Abyad pointed out that the last solution is through the so-called tracking system, that is, electronic monitoring through an application called meditrack, which monitors the quantity of medicines imported into Lebanon and distributed to pharmacies with prices. This feature will allow the Ministry and the Pharmacists Syndicate to monitor and hold each violator accountable.
And this application was started, but on a small scale, as a kind of experiment, in preparation for the great merit. It began by registering the names of cancer patients who are being treated at the American University Hospital, Rizk, Al-Roum, Al-Hariri, and Hotel Dieu, on this platform. After confirming its effectiveness and following the correct path, it will expand to include pharmacies for the purpose of monitoring and accounting.
Between the Ministry and the Central Bank
The Banque du Liban gives the Ministry of Health an amount of $35 million per month. It is the cost of importing medicines. Note that the needs of the Lebanese go beyond that. But in December, there was a delay in ordering medicines from companies, and Lebanon is currently missing an emergency stockpile due to the current crisis, which would have helped the market in the event of a defect or delay. The reason for this delay is due to the failure to resolve the issue between the importing companies and the Banque du Liban. As these companies were importing more than the market needs. This is a white opinion that has three interpretations: Either the surplus is used for other purposes, or it is sold “under the table,” or for smuggling.
In view of the large amount of imports, the Banque du Liban would receive a bill of several times what was agreed upon, so instead of paying the part owed, it decided to stop it completely. Hence, after programming matters between the importing companies and the Ministry of Health, it was agreed with the Banque du Liban that the amount would be paid as long as everyone would be subject to one plan.
In the next two weeks, it is expected that Lebanon will witness an influx of medicines, provided that this problem does not recur.
check thePCR and airlines
The Lebanese people were drawn to the news of the drop in the pricing of the PCR test upon arrival at Beirut airport. After the cost was 50 US dollars, it decreased to 30 dollars. But what is the background to this decline?
Abyad told Al-Modon that airlines were taking these amounts as if they were their monopoly, when the agreement was to divide the amount between 45 dollars for the Lebanese University instead of tests and studies, and 5 dollars for the Ministry of Health. But this $50 was paid as part of the airline ticket. So White limited the financial allowance to be in the Ministry’s court.
After putting forward a number of ideas, a payment of $30 was settled through a credit card before arriving in Lebanon, that is, paid at the airport as a kind of emd, that is, that pays for any additional service. This project was supposed to be launched at the beginning of this year. But the airlines refused and postponed the matter to January 10. This is what White said: “Wait for the high season to end.” However, the airlines persisted in sticking to the old rule: the amount must be paid with the ticket.
With Abyad’s insistence on his refusal, he contacted the company that manages the security of this platform, because the payment must be via a credit card, to solve the problem, and ensure the necessary confidentiality for payment. This plan was launched on Thursday, January 13, 2022, and so far the results are good, according to the Minister of Health, stressing that he has stopped the hand of airlines from embezzling the funds of the Lebanese University and withholding the additional amount.
As for the details of the amount, about $12 will go to the Lebanese University, and $5 to the Ministry of Health. It is fixed and unchanged, in addition to the cost of the examination $7 and $5 for airport services. An individual can pay in the Lebanese account, provided that the amount is withdrawn at the rate of 24 thousand pounds to one dollar.
It must be noted that the administration of the Lebanese University will take legal measures against the airlines, regarding the embezzled amounts.
hospitalization
On the issue of hospitalization and the conflict with insurance and insurance companies, Abyad confirmed to Al-Modon that the ministry worked to solve the problem of patients being treated at the ministry’s expense. Today, they are working towards insurance and insurance patients, and it requires 3 basic steps:
First, the financial increase for government and private hospitals in order to receive all patients, especially private ones, since the government does not suffer from these problems much, and it is necessary to increase support for private hospitals under the principle of “if you want to be obeyed, ask for what is possible.”
Second, activating monitoring knowing that monitoring devices are limited. Therefore, it was necessary to form a team from the Ministry to activate monitoring in all hospitals, especially private ones, starting from monitoring the reception of patients up to the tariff and price of medical devices and implants.
Finally, a number has been created for the Ministry of Health that citizens can call, in order to inquire about hospitalization and medication. This is expected to be completed in the coming weeks.
The minister stressed the need to raise the tariff in the guarantee, after he considered it illogical to continue paying the guarantee at the price of 1500, while the dollar on the black market exceeded the price of 24,000 pounds.
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