Like other vital sectors in Lebanon, the hospital sector tended to “dollarization” clearly and explicitly, given the impossibility of adopting the Lebanese pound, whose value has deteriorated greatly, in various operations related to hospital admissions, purchasing medicines, visiting the doctor, and others.
What seems remarkable in this regard is the discrepancy and imbalance between what the medical market in Lebanon requires and social security, which has been suffering since the beginning of the economic crisis from weak financial resources, given that its budget is determined in Lebanese pounds.
In this context, this morning, the Director General of Social Security, Muhammad Karaki, issued a decision specifying the doctor’s visit fees in Lebanon according to the following:
Specialist physician: one million Lebanese pounds.
Public health doctor: 650,000 Lebanese pounds.
Commenting on these numbers, the head of the Doctors Syndicate in Lebanon, Youssef Bakhash, told An-Nahar, saying: “We fully understand the decision issued by the Social Security in view of the financial reality that it is going through, like other public institutions in Lebanon, but we consider the numbers specified for the medical tariff to be illogical and not conform to reality.” current economy in Lebanon.
He added, “The cost of the health examination determined by the guarantee is the percentage of the amount that the guarantee fund returns to its subscribers after they have conducted any medical examination. Regarding the numbers that we call on doctors in Lebanon to adhere to as much as possible, we confirm that it was issued by the Syndicate Council 5 years ago.” He published a circular in which we set the minimum fees for doctors, which are: $25 for a specialist doctor, and $20 for general practitioners.
Regarding the extent to which doctors in Lebanon adhere to the numbers previously set by the Syndicate Council, Bakhash affirmed that “the medical profession in Lebanon is a free profession, and every doctor has the right to set his own tariff, especially as we are going through a moving and uncertain economic phase in terms of preserving purchasing power.”
He concluded, stressing that “the doctor in Lebanon, during this stage, as in all stages, must abide by the code of professional ethics, and determine his tariff according to the patient’s social reality. In many cases, the doctor tends to reduce his tariff or to carry out a free examination if he is sure that his patient is going through a circumstance.” difficult economics.
2023-09-06 11:54:16
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