Director of Rafic Hariri University Hospital, Dr. Firas Abyad, tweeted: “The health care sector in Lebanon faces many challenges, the most important of which is the constant loss of doctors who are leave in search for a better life abroad.”

He added: “This will have a significant negative impact on health centers and hospitals regarding caring quality. Moreover, many of these doctors are also professors, who are educating and training future generations of doctors at most prestigious medical schools and university medical centers, and their research has helped our universities achieve high rankings internationally. Losing them will be so painful.”

Abyad continued, “Lebanon has become a touristic medical destination, thanks to the services they provided, which helped the economy and created job opportunities. Now, not only are they leaving, but they are helping to set up medical centers in the countries from which patients used to come seeking treatment in our hospitals. Doctors’ leaving will increase the burden on colleagues who have decided to stay, as they are going to work more and earn less due to the deteriorating conditions that prompted their colleagues to migrate abroad, and consequently they will also leave.”

He concluded by saying: “How can all of this be lost so quickly? Hope, is the feeling that better days are waiting ahead, Hope will come later, but now, it is time to feel sad for loosing friends and colleagues. We will never forget.”