The civil servants’ strike that has been going on for almost two weeks in Lebanon is seriously jeopardizing citizens’ health, especially those with chronic diseases in a country where healthcare is already severely weakened by an unprecedented economic and financial crisis.
In a communique issued on Wednesday, the Ministry of Health deplored the “new pharmaceutical crisis” which led to “a temporary unavailability of a number of drugs for cancer and other serious illnesses, due to delays in the drug delivery process as a direct consequence of the strike by public sector employees.”
The widespread public sector strike “delayed the transfer of funds to importers,” the statement said.
Caretaker Minister of Health Firas Abiad reportedly tried to get drug importers to deliver the drugs “stocked in the warehouses,” but importers refused to do so “until they are paid.”
While the Ministry hopes to resolve the crisis through the “restoration of the financial transfer mechanism in the next few days,” as indicated in the press release, the life of patients who depend on the daily intake of medicines is under threat.
The Ministry urged “the parties concerned in all sectors” to reconsider their stance, stressing that “the payment mechanism agreed between the official financial authorities and drug importers constitutes a guarantee that importers’ debts will not accumulate.”
Abiad insisted on the need to assume national and humanitarian responsibility so that “crises of the sort do not recur” and that “priority is given to the patient in spite of everything,” the statement added.
