Private hospitals ask PM and Salameh to release cash transferred by state

BEIRUT — The Syndicate of Private Hospital Owners in Lebanon Friday urged Prime Minister Najib Mikati and central bank Governor Riad Salameh to call on Lebanese banks to provide the cash to supply hospitals’ needs. Banks have imposed restrictions on deposits since the start of the economic and financial crises in 2019.

Here’s what we know:

    • "Hospitals are unable to use the funds transferred by the state to their bank accounts,” said the syndicate in a press release. It also said that hospitals are not able to meet the health needs of citizens unless they pay in cash, “which is surreal and will lead to a health catastrophe.”

    • "This problem threatens to slow down the activities of hospitals. Especially since importers of medical equipment and drugs are now requiring hospitals to pay their bills in cash, and banks are asking hospitals to pay the salaries of employees in cash,” the statement continued. “We ask the prime minister and the governor of the central bank to call on the banks to provide the funds needed by the hospitals.”

    • Since 2019, Lebanon has been suffering from an unprecedented economic and financial crisis, which has caused a sharp depreciation of its national currency. In the absence of a capital control law, depositors are suffering from the technically illegal restrictions that banks have placed on their deposits, while billions of dollars have reportedly been transferred abroad.