“About 10,000 new cases of cancer are registered in Lebanon annually,” according to the estimate of a specialist in cancer and blood diseases and advisor to the Minister of Health, Dr. Arafat Tufayli, in his interview with An-Nahar. While we lack accurate statistics that estimate the total number of cancer cases in Lebanon, it is clear that cancer cases are on the rise in light of the decline in the budget allocated for treating patients.
On World Cancer Day, the Ministry of Health lifted subsidies on some cancer medicines that are replaced by a less expensive generic, so the subsidies were directed towards generic medicines with the aim of reducing the dollar cost in terms of importing the drug.
This budget, which is decreasing day after day, causes a new catastrophe for the cancer patient, who finds himself unable to confront cancer in finding an effective medicine.
As for the biggest catastrophe that the head of the “Barbara Nassar Association for Supporting Cancer Patients,” Hani Nassar, fears, it is “an announcement by more than one party of a tendency by the Banque du Liban to lift partial subsidies on cancer drugs, by subjecting them, like other commodities, to the new official exchange rate that he approved a few days ago.” 15,000 pounds per dollar instead of 1,500 pounds, which means a tenfold increase in drug prices for the patient.
On the other hand, importers no longer secure cheap cancer medicines in order to avoid procrastination with the Banque du Liban to manage their affairs, while their return is not important. Accordingly, importers stopped securing these medicines, which prompted the Ministry of Health to lift subsidies on them and maintain subsidies on more expensive medicines.
A few days ago, cancer patient Nancy Raffoul cried, “I’ve been waiting for a week of cancer medicine…we don’t want to die.” This cry was the result of the delay in securing medicine for her while she was in a hospital, and she confirmed in a video spread to her on social media, “I am waiting for my medicine at the Ministry. Although it is available, the hospital did not receive it. The reason for the delay is political. Corruption is the cause of the disease for us.” “.
Nancy said it frankly and painfully, “We want our medicines, we don’t want to die, and this is our right. What a shame on you… How can you be an eye?”
As a result of the widespread spread of the video, the Ministry of Health stated in a brief statement that “there was a delay in the delivery of the patient’s medicine, Nancy Raffoul, from the company, so the ministry contacted the company to speed up the delivery process, and it was delivered to the hospital, where the patient is receiving her treatment.”
Nancy is sick out of thousands of patients who are facing a health catastrophe today that deprives them of their right to treatment and medicine.
In this regard, Tufayli explains, “The Ministry of Health has taken some practical steps to reduce unjustified waste and ensure that the patient obtains his medication through:
1- Requiring each cancer patient to issue a unified health number aimed at distinguishing between the Lebanese patient and the foreign patient in order to obtain the subsidized medicine.
2- Lifting subsidies on cheap cancer medicines (which cost between 5 and 7 dollars) to subsidize more expensive cancer medicines.
3- In 2013 and 2019, the Ministry of Health issued directives to regulate the list of the most appropriate cancer treatments. In the year 2022, a new version of the directives was issued, where the cost element was introduced, ensuring that the benefit of the drug is high and not limited to the patient.
Therefore, if the drug is expensive and its benefit is limited, it is advisable to search for another alternative or to support other more effective drugs, and this has led to reducing the use of part of the expensive drugs.
4- Launching a safety system in the Ministry for the patient who has to take a high-cost medication, where his doctor must send his medical file to be studied by a specialized committee to obtain approval.
5- Launching a drug tracking system to stop smuggling and monitor the path of the drug from the agent to the hospital and the patient.
Water medicine and high cost
4 years ago, Alain Suleiman, while on his honeymoon, found out that he was suffering from Hodgkin’s Hodgkin’ Lymphoma. His symptoms, which intensified at night, were nothing but a warning bell that there was something more dangerous than just night sweats and shortness of breath. Alan talks on World Cancer Day about his journey, which fluctuates between securing a drug and stopping it, a state of ebb and flow that does not stop. and shortness of breath.
The diagnosis came to remove all doubts, I have lymphoma, and I know very well what that means because my father had the same type. I told myself a stage and it will definitely pass, I am not the type to break, I was convinced “If I let cancer eat me, I will defeat it.”
Alan is armed with his faith, which was his companion and strong support in his battle with illness, but on the ground the suffering was different. From obtaining medicine to its interruption or availability in a small amount, Alan moved from the stage of obtaining treatment to the stage of securing medicine so that his health would not deteriorate.
He admits, “I first started with the Ministry, where I used to get my medicines, and ended up looking for them everywhere. The Barbara Nassar Association supported me in some of them, and I had to secure others in light of the high price of them. I need 4 ampoules of one of the medicines, and the cost of each one of them is $3,000, for a total of $12,000.
The medicine was not available in Lebanon, so I got it from Turkey, only to find out later that it was a metaphor for water, and the tests revealed that my condition had not improved, only to discover that the medicine was fraudulent and useless.
Alan is one of dozens of patients who resort to neighboring countries to secure their medicines after they could not be found in Lebanon, but they paid the price twice, the first at cost and the second because it was fraudulent.
Today, Alan needs his seventh session, and he must secure 4 ampoules, and he is completely unable to secure their cost, especially since he has been unemployed since he fell ill.
His cry today sums up the cries of cancer patients in Lebanon who are facing a cancerous malignancy growing in their bodies and another malignant in the interruption of their medications and depriving them of treatment and recovery.
What was in the past a legitimate right to obtain medical treatment has become today more like pleading and screaming for a cancer patient to obtain his right to treatment.
Mass massacre
The head of the Barbara Nassar Association for Supporting Cancer Patients, Hani Nassar, describes what is happening as a “massacre being committed against cancer patients. Last year, cancer patients took to the streets to demand insurance for their medicines. A year ago until today, nothing has changed, and here we are going down again to demand an end to this.” crime against them.
And while other countries honor cancer patients, today we in Lebanon mourn them. In this solidarity stand, we try to stand by the living patients and remember the dead who were victims of this massacre.
Nassar pointed out that there is a tendency, according to what some say, to lift subsidies on cancerous drugs (by subjecting them, like other commodities, to the official exchange rate).
The new one, i.e. 15 thousand pounds per dollar instead of 1500). The question today is if there is a drug whose price is 9 million pounds over the subsidized price, and we are unable to secure it, so how is it if it was raised?
The subsidy is about 90 million pounds? As we know that the guarantee is unable to cover the cost of cheap medicines, so what about the expensive medicines?
So, in Nassar’s opinion, “the state tells cancer patients to die and there is no need for treatment. Knowing that if the patient receives treatment as it should, he will be cured of cancer, but when we deprive him of it, the disease will develop in his body and he will lose his battle in this life. Therefore, the patients stand today to confront this decision that It goes on in the minds of some, and whoever goes through it is crazy and a criminal.”
The numbers in Lebanon have become terrifying in everything, bleak in the steady increase in cancer cases, and fatal and debilitating in the cost of treatments that prevented many from continuing their treatment or declining their health due to their inability to continue regular treatment.
In March 2021, according to a report published by the “Global Observatory” of the World Health Organization, Lebanon recorded 28,000 cases of cancer during the last five years, including 11,600 cases in 2020.
Lebanon also ranked first among West Asian countries in the number of cancer cases compared to the population, according to a report issued in 2018 by the World Health Organization. The report pointed out that there are 242 cancer patients out of every 100,000 Lebanese, while more than 17,000 new infections were recorded in 2018, and about nine thousand deaths from the disease.
However, these numbers, according to Tufayli, “It is true that they are higher than in some countries, but they differ according to the method of collecting information and data in other countries. Therefore, our numbers are considered accurate because all tissue laboratories inform the Ministry of Health about the result of a patient with cancer. Also, the presence of refugees and patients coming from outside Lebanon ( Iraq) are among the numbers recorded by Lebanon, which explains the increase in numbers in the country.
Terrifying are these numbers that showed their fangs before the economic-financial crisis in 2019, so what is the situation today with the inability to insurance Hundreds of patients their medication or early diagnosis of the disease?
The cases are matched by a fluctuating budget, which led to a collective cry launched by cancer patients, since medicines were cut off in the Lebanese market as a result of being smuggled or sold on the black market.
$53 million is the amount that the Lebanese Ministry of Health used to spend on cancer medicines for Lebanese patients who received their treatment at the Ministry’s expense in 2017. Today, the budget allocated to these patients no longer exceeds $17 million. Tufaili explains, “The entire budget of the Ministry of Health amounts to 35 million dollars, 10 million dollars to support medical supplies and 25 million pounds to cover all cancerous and chronic medicines, and there are about 17 million dollars allocated to support cancerous medicines. This means that 80 percent of the health budget is to support Cancer drugs.
On the other hand, a specialist in hematology and oncology, Professor Fadi Nasr, believes that “we are witnessing an increase in advanced cases of cancer as a result of the delay in early diagnosis and the inability of people to conduct annual examinations for prevention and detection of cancer. There is a real problem, which is that people are no longer treated for diseases properly due to the cost Unsubsidized medicines. The budget for subsidized medicines does not exceed $25 million per month, while people are “dying because they are not being treated properly.”
Before the year 2019, Lebanon was one of the developed countries in providing health care and medicine, but today, Lebanon has become one of the lagging countries. Not to mention the high cost that the patient has to incur to obtain treatment and increase the chance of recovery.
Nasr points out that “the cost of one treatment session ranges from 3 to 5 thousand dollars, and the patient needs a session every 3 weeks. How can the patient bear these costs? Therefore, Nasr suggests that among the solutions to confront the crisis, banks should exceptionally transfer funds to Hospitals to cover the bills of incurable diseases.
