Commenting the press release from the Banque du Liban which estimated that importers of medicines had already far exceeded the level of 2020 orders by mid-2021 and consequently refusing to grant the more than 400 million dollars of lines of credit necessary to finance the purchases of this sector, the outgoing Minister of Health Hassan Hamad accuses the central bank of having published unbalanced information, noting that the period of 2020 cannot be compared to 2021 due to the coronavirus outbreak.
We have to be objective in stress testing, and this is not how society and the Department of Public Health are rewarded under the current circumstances
Hamad Hassan, July 15, 2021
As a reminder, the central bank indicated yesterday that it had already paid $ 536 million for importing drugs as of June 30, 2021, while the value submitted for prior approval was estimated at $ 445 million. The total import bill would therefore reach $ 1.5 billion on that date, while the Banque du Liban would have financed $ 1,173 million in drugs in 2020. Consequently, the BdL would not have settled a balance of 445 million dollars until today.
According to the minister who was speaking on the airwaves of the Al Manar channel, health remains more important than any other good, also believing that randomly subsidizing drugs can only increase hospital bills and the sector.
The ministry’s aim is to control hospital bills without disrupting the health system and therefore calls on the Banque du Liban to be cautious.
the import of drugs and its presence in the market are directly linked to transfers from the Central Bank, while the role of the ministry is limited to regulating and monitoring the drug market
Hamad Hassan, July 15, 2021
The Banque du Liban would have agreed to support the sector to the tune of 50 million dollars per month, notes Hamad Hassan. His services would have put in place a list of drugs that could benefit from these sums, a week ago.
This funding would also be linked to the use of generic drugs of identical quality, calling moreover the pharmaceutical companies to the leniency because of the particular conditions from which Lebanon suffers. In addition, the local pharmaceutical industry should be stimulated and respond above all to the local market before exporting its goods.
A card for the beneficiaries of medicines should also be launched, in partnership with a group of scientific offices of international pharmaceutical companies, which will help to follow the path of the medicine to the patients to avoid any contraband or monopoly.
Assem Araji also describes the position of the Banque du Liban as dangerous for the lives of the Lebanese
The chairman of the parliamentary committee on public health, MP Assem Araji, also commented via Twitter on the Banque du Liban community, saying that “people’s health will be compromised by the gap between the figures for drug subsidies including the Bank of Lebanon spoke today and importers who deny these figures “.
He believes that the population is the victim of this gap, blowing that the plan to rationalize drugs is ready. If the import of the necessary drugs fails, Lebanon and its population could experience disastrous consequences, said the parliamentarian.
