Sometimes a “picture is worth a thousand words,” and that’s true as the photo of the cancer patient Bahu Costantine crying due to medicine outages had influenced the public opinion.

Bahu is not the only patient suffering from cancer, as there are a lot of similar cases for patients groaning behind the walls of homes and hospitals

The tears of the patients protesting in the street influenced the consciences of the officials and urged them to open credit lines to purchase chronic disease medicines. NGOs also stood by the patients as usual, and expatriates supported the ‘Cancer Patient Support Fund’ in cooperation with the American University of Beirut.

Any aid or support is vital for cancer patients currently, because no one has confident in the state that offers only instant solutions, and fear sparks among patients of medicine shortages.

The American University of Beirut “Cancer Support Fund”, which was established in 2018, has treated so far 590 patients, and has financed laboratory tests and medical visits for 955 patients.

We reiterate that “had it not been for the civil society, international aid, and the Lebanese expatriates, Lebanon’s hospitals would have closed their doors and patients would have remained to their fate.