Al-Abiad for Al Mayadeen: Emergency Import of Drugs Has Begun
The Lebanese Health Minister reveals to Al Mayadeen that more than 90 medicines for chronic diseases are available in health centers, and $35 million is available from the Banque du Liban to support the medicine.
The Lebanese Minister of Health, Firas al-Abiad, revealed today in an interview with Al Mayadeen that only $35 million is still available from the Banque du Liban to support medicine.
Al-Abiad said that "more than 90 medicines for chronic diseases are available in the Ministry of Health's health centers."
He added, "The ministry is working to activate the local pharmaceutical industry. As for emergency import, we partially started it."
While the Minister of Health saw that Lebanese citizens are expressing their pain lawfully, he stressed the need to restore the financial balance in Lebanon, which will be reflected on the price of medicine in the market, according to him.
وزير الصحة #فراس_الأبيض لـ #الميادين: نحن بحاجة إلى إعادة التوازن المالي في #لبنان ما سينعكس حكماً على سعر الدواء. pic.twitter.com/Ec6B57gb8x
— قناة الميادين (@AlMayadeenNews) November 18, 2021
The words of the Lebanese Minister of Health come in light of a drug crisis in Lebanon, after the subsidy price was partially lifted.
The Governor of the Banque du Liban, Riad Salameh, had said last August that “there are not enough US dollars [to support essential goods] in the Central Bank,” considering that “the quick alternative lies either in passing a law that allows the Central Bank to use the mandatory reserve or by forming a government with a vision that begins the reform project in the country.”
On Tuesday, the subsidy was partially lifted on some medicines for incurable diseases; this procedure was preceded by the lifting of subsidies on all kinds of medicines, except for the chronic ones.
In August, a shortage of cancer medications put many at risk as every patient with the deadly disease had to secure a dose of treatment at their expense from outside Lebanon amid the country's economic, social, and health crises.