Nepotism, Waste, and Corruption: The Health Sector in Lebanon

The head of the “Health is Right and Dignity” campaign, former MP Ismail Sukariyeh, revealed on several occasions about nepotism in the health sector, and the large scale of waste and corruption in it, to the extent that it exceeded 50% of the Ministry of Health.

Regarding this “favoritism,” Sukkarieh explains in an interview with the “Lebanon Debate,” that it includes “clinics that operate under the guise of partisan affiliation, and are located in Beirut and Tripoli, and benefit from the donations of the Ministry of Health, and some care centers were handed over to associations that are a front for well-known political and partisan forces.” While the ministry evades its direct role, and is unable to pay the salaries of employees.

In response to a question about whether these associations are still making profits at the expense of the ministry, Sukkarieh confirms that they “evade fees and taxes, and therefore, there is a suspicion of corruption in the matter, and this is not new,” noting that he has written two books that included these details and scandals, namely In the Palace of Justice until now.

And about cancer drugs, and the news surrounding them about favoritism in distribution to partisan parties? Dr. Sukkariyeh recalls, “The issue began in the 1990s, and there are a number of medicines for specific diseases that are required for a specific association to import them, and there are some medicines that are obligatory for an association to provide them to clinics at nominal prices, but there is always chaos and the unavailability of medicines in many cases.”

As for accusing the Ministry of Health of abandoning its caretaking role, Sukkarieh says, “The ministry did not abandon all of its caretaking roles, but most of them.”

And his assessment of the performance of the Ministry of Health? Sukariya accuses her of failure, “especially since she is the product of this political class present in the country, and therefore, the performance will be similar, even if some details differ, i.e. bringing the national health policy into politics, arming, sectarianism, and not applying the law, and therefore, everyone contributes to striking the health reality.” .

And about the existence of fears of the collapse of the health sector? Sukkariyeh confirms that “what is happening today is like an unannounced collapse. Even before the collapse of the lira, it was in crisis, due to corruption in hospitals, guarantor institutions, and the ministry’s relationship with the state. Half of the health bill is acts of corruption, and this threatens the health sector, because in the end it is known that the country’s capabilities are declining.” And you will reach a place where the health sector collapses, as a result of the current crisis and looting, to the collapse that divided the “camel’s back”.

Whoever wants to enter the hospital today is living a nightmare and a great delusion, and of course the hospitals are in crisis due to the heavy burdens on them in terms of supplies and salaries of employees. To treat cancerous diseases, which can be described as accumulations that will lead to collapse.

On the issue of medicine, Sukkarieh refers to the issue of smuggling, which naturally increases in light of the chaos and high prices of medicines, which gives the pretext for the rise in the level of smuggling of medicines at prices lower than the known prices, noting that “whatever comes and goes” of drugs of unknown composition and efficacy enters Today this is a scary issue.

Regarding the cessation of the work of the central laboratory to monitor these drugs, Sukkarieh explains that “the central laboratory has not performed its role since the early nineties, since before the war it was one of the most important laboratories in the region, and its center was in Ain al-Tineh and the building was demolished, and if a laboratory was established today, it will re-evaluate medicines.” The market, which has become about 50 percent of it without a need for treatment, nor is it forged, but some of it may be forged, and some of it is effective at a rate of 40 to 50 percent.

As for the growth of the pharmaceutical industry in Lebanon? Soukaria points out that the drug industry in Lebanon is capable of development, provided that it is laboratory and scientifically monitored, knowing that the local pharmaceutical companies have “created” when they were exporting medicines abroad, such as Iraq and others, and “what a shame.”

Sukariya reveals that the volume of waste in the Ministry of Health is close to 50%, accusing the Minister of Health of being behind the crisis and behind the deals that take place from the beginning.

He recalls the case of the government hospital and the story of Mona Baalbaki, and says: “I was the one who referred her to the Central Inspection in 2008, and so far nothing has been issued, and before that I revealed through a patient of mine the cancerous water scandal that killed the patient, and the file is still in the Palace of Justice, in addition To the scandal of the doctor who gives a cancer patient half of the treatment injection and sells the other half.Therefore, the citizen must be held accountable and raise his voice democratically and demand his rights regardless of his emotions, fanaticism, and political affiliation, because health is the most important thing that God has given us, and it is for everyone, and it has no partisan, sectarian, or factional color. And the Lebanese must unite their voice, even for once, on an important issue, which is health.