Caretaker Health Minister Hamad Hassan inspects stocks during a search of a warehouse in Nabatieh. (Credit: NNA)
BEIRUT — Caretaker Health Minister Hamad Hassan on Monday night confiscated a large quantity of medicines, baby milk and diapers from a warehouse in Toul, Nabatieh.
Here’s what we know:
• The raid on the Toul warehouse came as Hassan made an inspection tour Monday to observe the selling and distribution process of medicines in Lebanon in order to guard against the hoarding of medical supplies.
• The morning after the raid, Hassan tweeted that the owners of “PSD warehouse” had been arrested and that the Health Ministry had confiscated the medicines found. “The ministry will distribute them free of charge to patients,” Hassan announced.
• “I hope that these raids stand as a lesson to anyone who wants to take advantage of the current crisis,” Hassan said after announcing that he would carry out raids to make sure that all medicine importers are abiding by the drug prices set by the ministry.
• In June, Hasan ordered a raid on a warehouse in Beirut that had hoarded subsidized medical equipment in order to sell them on the black market.
• Amid Lebanon’s economic crisis, pharmacy shelves have emptied without being refilled, and some pharmacies have shut altogether. The central bank’s dwindling foreign currency reserves have meant that it is no longer able to subsidize many over the counter medicines.
• Hassan said that “the mafia and criminal minds” behind the illegal storage of medicines pose a risk on many levels, in particular because the medications are not stored under the right conditions, which could make the drugs less effective or, in some rare cases, toxic.