A group of men and women meet inside the waiting room of one of the large medical clinics in Tripoli, united by pain, illness, and the quest for treatment, which has turned into hardship for the Lebanese, financially, physically, and psychologically.
While each of them waits for more than an hour for his turn, with the aim of entering his doctor’s room, they chat to break the boredom about the high cost of treatment in Lebanon, and then one of them throws out an idea that will fuel the discussion.
Stories of treatment in Syria
She is a woman in her fifties, suffering from heart problems. She says in a loud voice: “By God, it seems that we have no choice but to seek treatment in Syria.” Her idea was not strange, but everyone supported it in the discussion, as it became clear that each of them had a story or a relative who went for treatment and operations in Syria, especially in Tartous, at a cost less than 85% of that in Lebanon.
The woman tells of her relative who went to Tartous, to “Afkham Hakim,” as she describes him, to examine his heart, in exchange for a scout equivalent to only $3. She continues sarcastically: “I don’t know what to do here. I wait for hours, miss a quarter of an hour at Al-Hakim’s, and pay $40 on my way out.” Her neighbor who accompanies her continues: “We must ask Muhammad (one of their acquaintances), so that he can give us the number of the chauffeur (medical trip organizer), book an appointment for us, and take us to Tartous.”
Soon, another woman sitting across from them interrupted them and told them that her brother, from Dinniyeh, had gone to Tartous to have a disc operation on his back for three thousand dollars, while in Lebanon it had cost him about ten thousand dollars. She continued enthusiastically: “The operation was successful, and he is jumping and walking, and his life is normal.”
A man interested in the discussion intervenes to express his fears about handing over his health to doctors he does not know, then another says: “Isn’t it better than staying in Lebanon and not being able to control it, while all the people are being treated in Syria?” He responds, “You’re right,” and then seeks to inquire about ways to go to Syrian hospitals. Here, another woman tells the story of her son who had his teeth straightened in Syria at a quarter of the cost in Lebanon, so he paid $300 after it would have cost him about $1,200 in Lebanon, and that her sister is shopping in Latakia to buy the medicines she needs at cheap prices. She says: “My sister bought a set of medicines for herself and her husband that did not exceed $10, and she walked around and shopped with the round-trip fare, and did not spend more than $30.”
Medical Tourism
In fact, this is a sample of the stories of thousands of Lebanese who have begun to resort to Syria for treatment and operations, after years ago it was a destination only for poor Lebanese women who wanted to undergo plastic surgery at low prices, in exchange for capable Syrian women coming to Lebanon to perform the same cosmetic surgeries.
In the north, just as thousands of patients go through the official Arida crossing to Syrian Tartous, there are other Lebanese who go through the Masnaa crossing to receive treatment in Damascus, and other official crossings to receive treatment in Homs and elsewhere.
This created a kind of “medical tourism” from Lebanon towards Syria, after Lebanon had been a hospital destination for decades for various people in the Arab region. While health coverage is almost non-existent in Lebanon, except for a very limited group of the wealthy or those who work with external parties that provide them with health insurance cards, medical tourism activity has expanded towards Syria after more than 80% of the Lebanese lost a large percentage of various forms of insurance and health insurance.
As for the pretext of Lebanese doctors and hospitals, that citizens may risk their lives when they go for treatment in Syria, it no longer resonates, because people share their successful experiences. Even the broad category whose treatment experience in Syria was unsuccessful and who are exposed to health risks did not constitute a deterrent to others, as long as the goal was to receive treatment at a low cost.
This phenomenon is not limited to emergency operations, but also includes restoration and beautification operations, which led to the organization of periodic medical trips, as a resident of the border areas in Akkar tells us.
Many believe that there is a state of chaos and danger affecting this area, after taxi drivers at the official border crossings between the two countries took over the task of directing patients to the Syrian doctor, and to several hospitals, the most prominent of which is Tishreen Hospital in Tartous.
Al-Modon’s information indicates that Syrian hospitals offer the Lebanese very attractive offers at low prices to encourage them to receive treatment and undergo operations. This is not to mention the fact that thousands of Lebanese people buy Syrian medicines, whether from Syria, or those that invade markets and pharmacies illegally… and this is another issue.
2024-01-21 11:57:30
#Lebanese #Syria #treatment #dollars #doctors #fee
