“Lebanon Debate”
The Barbara Nassar Association called for a sit-in under the title “Cancer patients in Lebanon face death or the government” to demand the right of cancer patients to receive treatment with dignity, after the matter reached the point of threatening their lives due to the sharp decline in the provision of treatment medications by the Ministry of Health, in Riad Solh Square. – In front of the Government Palace in Beirut.
In this context, the association’s president, Hani Nassar, confirmed that “cancer patients in Lebanon have been suffering for years from delays in receiving treatment,” recalling that “the first movement or sit-in for cancer patients was in August of 2021.”
In an interview with Lebanon Debate, Nassar said: “At that time, there was a dispute between the Bank of Lebanon and the Ministry of Health, but after the sit-in, the Central Bank gave its approval to import medicines after a dispute that lasted about 5 months.”
He pointed out that “the sit-ins have been repeated, and every time we reach a crossroads, what we need is funding from the government for the Ministry of Health, but the ministers are ‘cooing’, as if cancer patients are citizens who ‘should not be held accountable.'”
He stressed that “previous movements led patients to a result, but today what the cancer patient has reached can be described as the most difficult stage, especially with the Ministry of Health’s move to use protocols approved by the International Health Organization for the poorest countries.”
This means, according to Nassar, that “the Ministry of Health will provide basic treatment for cancer patients with chemotherapy, which is considered primitive today, and therefore the patient in Lebanon will be deprived of advanced treatments, except for those who have money, given that other treatments are expensive and may reach the limits of 10 thousand.” A dollar a month.
He stressed that “the reason behind the Ministry of Health adopting this option is the absence of funding from the Council of Ministers for the Ministry of Health, but the question that arises is, where is the government’s plan 3 years ago to secure funding for cancer patients?” Pointing out that “all countries that are going through economic crises constitute If there is a health risk to citizens, an emergency plan must be developed.”
He believed that “cancer is the number one disease in Lebanon, given that it enters all homes of all sects.”
Nassar concluded by saying: “Tomorrow’s movement is nothing but raising your voice against the killers of cancer patients,” revealing that “the numbers issued by the World Health Organization are frightening regarding the escalation of the number of cancer patients in Lebanon, as there are types of cancers that have increased in Lebanon by 105%.”
2023-12-28 12:33:45
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