The head of the Doctors Syndicate, Professor Sharaf Abu Sharaf, confirmed following the Hospital Owners Syndicate threatened to not accept social security patients, that “the outstanding problems between hospitals and doctors on the one hand, and social security, on the other hand, are chronic and numerous, and they are treated only with palliatives or indifference.”
He said: The doctors’ unions and hospitals have repeatedly proposed radical solutions to these problems, especially with regard to payment of dues, monitoring and accounting, and updating the medical agenda, but the results were below the required level.
He added: “There are advances paid to doctors and hospitals, knowing that doctors’ rights have always been wasted and their meager fees are paid following a year or more, and there is no direct separation of their fees. The situation before the economic crisis was somewhat acceptable, but with the collapse of the current economic and financial situation, the results have become catastrophic. The financial security situation is catastrophic, and the guarantors are now not guaranteed except in form, and they have no ability to pay the differences to receive treatment, and the state is on the verge of bankruptcy.
He asked: “Who will pay the cost? And who is responsible? The Ministry of Public Health has recently raised the tariffs fivefold with funding and a loan from the World Bank, while the guarantee is still looking for funding to solve this crisis.”
He cautioned that “we will not be able to continue in the absence of a financial and practical solution to pay the cost. This is what prompted the Hospital Syndicate to threaten not to accept insurance patients, which will negatively affect everyone, especially the patient who pays dearly and has to pay the differences to receive treatment.”
He pointed out that “the Doctors Syndicate has raised the official tariff, taking into account the difficult social and humanitarian situation that we all live in, in order to motivate doctors to stay in Lebanon, and to put an end to the emigration we suffer, especially the emigration of specialized doctors. There is a major crisis now with regard to doctors.” Kidney dialysis, for example, and their very low tariffs (30,000 LL). He stressed that “there is no immediate solution outside of seriously financially supporting the medical, hospital and nursing sectors so that they can carry out their duties to the fullest extent. Otherwise, they will not be able to continue their work. Therefore, let us all cooperate to secure the acceptable and reasonable minimum for them.”
He concluded: “We are inevitably coming to major health problems at all levels, and we will not be able to bear their consequences if we do not work to find quick solutions to them.”
