A statement by the organization said, on Thursday, that the government “has failed to fulfill its obligations related to supporting primary health care centers, which provide free and low-cost medicines, which are in high demand.”
In light of the scarcity of dollar reserves at the Central Bank, the Lebanese authorities began about two years ago to rationalize or gradually remove subsidies on the import of basic commodities, including fuel and medicines.
Amnesty International described the decision as “politics of narrow horizons” and noted that it had “impeded people’s access to essential and life-saving medicines due to their unavailability or inability to afford them.”
The statement indicated that the Lebanese government’s response to the crisis “disappointed” and caused “enormous pressure” on the already fragile health sector.
In conjunction with the rapid collapse of the Lebanese pound and the depletion of the Central Bank’s reserves of foreign currencies, the Ministry of Public Health announced on November 9, 2021 the lifting of foreign exchange subsidies for all medicines except for cancer medicines and some other chronic diseases, with immediate effect. As a result of the lifting of subsidies, the prices of most medicines have skyrocketed.
“People in Lebanon are experiencing unbearable suffering trying to access life-saving medicines, and the authorities continue to evade their responsibility to protect the right to health,” said Aya Majzoub, Deputy Middle East and North Africa Director at Amnesty International.
The same official recommended that the Lebanese authorities quickly address the drug crisis “by increasing the budget of primary health care centers, addressing the shortage of subsidized and non-subsidized medicines, and strengthening social assistance programs.”
It also called on the international community to “raise funding for organizations that provide affordable and accessible health services.”
The statement revealed that “during the period between July 19 and August 12 of last year, the organization conducted a research on the possibility of obtaining medicines throughout Lebanon.
According to the same document, the researchers visited three primary health care centers in Baalbek and Beirut and interviewed 23 people, including patients, pharmacists, health workers, government health care officials, and workers in non-governmental organizations.
And the statement added, “Primary health care centers, which are supervised by the government and run by non-governmental organizations, have become one of the few options available to the population” who are looking for free or low-cost medicines.
However, the statement adds, “Despite a significant increase in the number of people seeking its services, the centers have not received an increase in funding, which has led to a shortage of medicines.”
An official at the Ministry of Public Health told Amnesty International that the number of patients receiving health services, including medicines, in primary health care centers has increased by 62% since 2020.
The government reduced its total spending on the health sector by 40% between 2018 and 2022, according to the Lebanese Minister of Health, in the caretaker government, Firas Al-Abyad.
It is noteworthy that the value of the Lebanese pound declined by 95 percent, which greatly contributed to the decline in the various services provided by the government, especially food and medicine subsidies.
The organization’s statement referred in particular to the shortage of medicines intended to treat cancer, although the state extracted them from the operations of lifting subsidies.
“Since 2019, the Ministry of Public Health has partially blamed the shortage on merchants and smugglers who buy medicine at low, subsidized prices and hoard it before selling it at inflated prices,” the statement says, before adding, “amid the government’s continued failure to confront this problem and hold those responsible accountable.”
Cancer patients hold placards during a protest by dozens of cancer patients who protested shortages in medications amid Lebanon…
Fadia, one of the cancer sufferers, says in her testimony to the organization that she had to miss a radiotherapy session because the medicine was not available in the care program.
“I hear the same promise every time I don’t get my medication, and it’s always ‘next week,'” she lamented.
It is reported that there is also a severe shortage of non-subsidized medicines because importers are unable to import the necessary quantities of medicines due to the ongoing financial crisis in the country.
An employee of a local pharmaceutical company told Amnesty International that supplies of unsubsidized medicines were intermittent due to mounting debts owed by overseas manufacturers.
She said foreign drug companies will not send new orders until old bills are settled.
Since 2019, Lebanon has been witnessing an economic collapse that the World Bank ranked among the worst in the world, with the local currency losing about 95 percent of its value.
Political divisions have prevented the election of a president for more than three months, amid widespread governmental, parliamentary and judicial paralysis.
