Distinguished for his management of the Covid-19 pandemic when he was at the head of the Rafic-Hariri University Hospital in Beirut, the surgeon Firas Abiad was appointed in September Minister of Health in the government of Najib Mikati with the difficult task of stabilizing a sector dilapidated by the financial and economic crisis in Lebanon.
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Is the healthcare sector on the brink of collapse?
The sector is undoubtedly in a very precarious situation but it is not yet on the verge of collapse. Health systems depend on the health of the economy, and with the financial crisis, it is no wonder the sector has crumbled. It was already under pressure, with the influx of more than 1.5 million Syrian refugees, who represent a quarter of the total population, then with the Covid-19 pandemic and the explosion at the port of Beirut, in August 2020 If another strong pandemic wave occurs, or some other disaster, then, yes, the system will be on the verge of collapse.
What are the main difficulties you have to face?
The main problem is with drugs because we used to import 85% to 90% of our pharmaceutical needs and we no longer have the means to do so. The second problem concerns hospitalizations, the costs of which have skyrocketed, and which the government is no longer able to cover. Patients must pay the difference. Then we have a wave of emigration of doctors and nurses, with 30% to 40% of the health workers who have left, which diminishes the capacity of the system. And, finally, we have a further rise in Covid-19 cases the population is vaccinated [avec deux doses] just 35.5%.
How are you responding to this crisis, and with what means?
It’s not that we’re out of money at all, but we need to rationalize our spending. We are trying to find stability. We have started to cut drug subsidies. We kept the cancer drug subsidies entirely, but partially lifted the chronic disease drug subsidies.
In the past five months, many drugs were no longer available in Lebanon, these difficult decisions had to be made. There is still two months, there was no cancer treatment in the country. Medicines for chronic diseases can no longer be found in pharmacies, but only on the black market. With the lifting of subsidies, drugs will be available again [à un prix supérieur] but we have to think about how to help people pay them.
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