Private hospitals are facing a shortage of anesthetics, according to the head of their syndicate. (Credit: João Sousa)
BEIRUT — The head of Lebanon’s private hospitals syndicate, Sleiman Haroun, on Friday warned that medical centers have started postponing certain non-urgent surgical procedures due to shortages of anesthetics, adding that the central bank has not facilitate their import.
Here’s what we know:
• “Our stock of anesthetics will not last more than 15 days,” Haroun warned in an interview with Saudi-owned Asharq Alawsat newspaper published Friday, blaming Banque du Liban for not opening lines of credits necessary for their import.
• He said that “medicines for local anesthesia are 90 percent out of stock, and those general anesthesia are in short supply at most hospitals.”
• Haroun said that while the imported products are being delivered, they are severely rationed. “For example, we ask for 20 boxes [of anesthetics] but receive only two.”
• Battling an unprecedented economic crisis, Lebanon has gradually lifted subsidies on essentials like food, fuel and medicine. Some medicines are still subsidized by the BDL, which has been confronted with dwindling foreign currency reserves.