Head of Private Hospitals Syndicate Suleiman Haroun’s announcement, that hospitals are going to reduce patients ‘reception , while others will adopt a quota regarding number of patients of guarantors, raised people’s concern and fear of not being able to be hospitalized in a country where they have lost everything.

Haroun indicated in an interview that “the reason for hospitals’ inability, is the delay of the guarantors in paying their dues and the inability of these authorities to raise the hospital bill, as well as the hospitals’ consumption of unsubsidized materials, such as food, sterilization tools, and others, as for the medical supplies that are still listed on subsidy list , their prices doubled as a result of paying only  15% of their price according to the black market dollar.

However, Haroun revealed an effort by the Minister of Finance to pay 101 billion Lebanese pounds to hospitals, but he seemed pessimistic due to the procrastination and wasting time between the ministries of finance and health regarding transactions.

He pointed out that “hospitals are not receiving any kind of support from abroad to withstand, despite contacting international organizations, because the latter and donor countries link all aid to the well-known conditions, namely, forming a government and carrying out reforms.”

In an interview with Asharq Al-Awsat, Haroun confirmed that the social security fund will be committed to urgent cases only, explaining that “the patient, even if he is guaranteed, is obliged to pay the differential prices of medical supplies because agents are no longer handing it at the official price.”