2023-09-22 10:20:49
The wave of loss of medicines and baby formula and manipulation of their prices from one pharmacy to another has subsided, although the availability of many medicines is still scarce, but people have become accustomed to reality despite their will. Dollarization, which swept across all sectors, contributed to reducing demand for medicines, as their prices rose in line with the dollar’s upward movement, even though their price was issued by the Ministry of Health and collected in pounds. In parallel, high prices and scarcity of medicines stimulated the smuggling market to provide medicines not registered with the Ministry of Health, coming from Syria, Iran, Turkey… and others.
Although this issue is not new, the head of the Pharmacists Syndicate, Joe Salloum, re-shed light on it following the crisis reached an aggravated stage. The displaced, “in addition to competing with the Lebanese for the limited amount of available medicines and dilapidated health facilities, are establishing illegal centers that trade in various types of medicines.” “Smuggled.” Has the pressure of the displaced on the health sector become dangerous to this extent?
Threat to health security
In Salloum’s opinion, the transgressions of many displaced people have accumulated to the point of “threatening health security.” Although it is difficult to record numbers and rates regarding the volume of smuggling and the number of illegal health centers, “observation on the ground and the experience reported by pharmacists and citizens show the presence of shops, clinics and centers run by Syrians in which they sell smuggled medicines. The numbers of these centers increase in areas with heavy displacement.” “. According to what Salloum told Al-Modon.
The union does not have much to do in this area, so “we are communicating with those concerned and with all those in a position of responsibility.” Salloum points out that the union is communicating with “the governors, the Public Prosecution, and the Ministry of Interior… to limit the spread of smuggled medicines and health centers run by displaced people.” Salloum reassures that Lebanese pharmacies “are committed to the medicine registered in the Ministry of Health, and pharmacies that violate are subject to accountability.”
Salloum fears that the exacerbation of abuses will lead to “the displaced people’s consumption of the existing medicine stock and the capacity of hospital centers for treatment.”
The state is complicit in its people
There is no doubt that the large scale of displacement has its effects on the Lebanese street. However, the Lebanese state did not deal properly with the displacement from its beginning. Mismanagement “is the result of corruption in the state. This is reflected in the issue of illegal medicines and health centers.” Sources in the pharmaceutical sector said, in an interview with Al-Modon, that “the problem begins with the absence of state authority, and the involvement of those supported by the parties in power, in smuggling and protecting smugglers, whether Lebanese or Syrian. Also, the loose borders between Lebanon and Syria unleash all violations.”
Although “the impact of the presence of displaced persons in Lebanon on the medication file became clearly evident in the wake of the medication crisis before the lifting of support, through demand for it at a rate of 9 Syrians compared to 4 Lebanese requesting medication from pharmacies, this does not yet reach the point of threatening Lebanese health security.” “. The sources draw attention to the fact that the displaced people’s increased demand for medicine and infant formula is due to the high percentage of their births compared to Lebanese births.
The need to respond to the patient
Sources agree: “There is a problem that cannot be denied or hidden. But it is not easy to solve.” Although the head of the Pharmacists Syndicate was quick to warn, the pharmacists cannot do anything, as it is impossible for them to refuse to sell to any displaced person under the pretext of the existence of illegal centers run by displaced people, or the involvement of some of them in the illegal trade in medicines. For the pharmacist, the person requesting medicine from the pharmacy is a sick person, regardless of his nationality.”
Solutions are not seriously proposed. The difficulty of resolving the crisis of medicine and health centers is due to the difficulty of resolving the crisis of corruption and smuggling, which is not possible at the present time or in the near future. What is striking is that the political parties holding power contribute to strengthening the crisis “by not taking proper legal measures through state institutions, but rather address its repercussions partially, by helping their masses regionally. These parties have private health centers that provide services to partisans, supporters, and the surrounding environment, It also distributes medicines, some of which are smuggled and therefore not subject to the supervision of the Ministry of Health.”
Despite the difficulty of resolving the issue, the sources believe that “in the long term, the displaced will take medicine from the Lebanese, due to the large number of births that require increasing the rate of consumption of medicine and milk, specifically medicines for children, because most of the medicines they need for long periods, and medicines for chronic diseases, they bring from Syria”.
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