Lebanon’s healthcare on brink of collapse amid crisis, says minister

Lebanon’s healthcare on brink of collapse amid crisis, says minister

BEIRUT- Lebanon's healthcare system is crumbling amid an economic crisis that has led to an exodus of thousands of doctors and nurses, forced private hospitals to close some departments and put further strains on the already stretched state sector. "If this crisis goes on for long without solutions we will of course come closer to a great collapse," Health Minister Firass Abiad told Reuters this week. Lebanon's economy has been in freefall since 2019 and its currency has lost more than 90% of its value, driving much of the nation into poverty and pushing healthcare professionals and others to head abroad for work. Private hospitals in Lebanon, once a regional hub for medical treatment, accounted for 80% of hospitals and health services before the crisis, but now fewer people could afford them and they were turning to the state, said Joseph Helou, the ministry's director of medical care. The ministry covered medical bills for about 50% of the population before the crisis but now about 70% of Lebanese were demanding help, straining the ministry's shrinking budget, he said, adding: "We are racking up massive debts at hospitals." The ministry's budget in dollar terms was worth $300 million before the crisis