Caretaker Health Minister Firass Abiad. (Credit: Dalati and Nohra)
BEIRUT — Caretaker Health Minister Firass Abiad announced on Monday an agreement between Lebanon and the United Nations World Health Organization on the funding and relaunching the activities of the Central Laboratory, an institution that has been inactive for years, which is supposed to carry out quality testing of medicine and food products. The minister did not give details about this funding, including the amount.
Here’s what we know:
• During a press conference at the ministry, Abiad discussed the results of his participation in the 75th World Health Assembly in Geneva. During this event, an agreement was reached for "WHO funding to move forward with the Central Laboratory project, which we hope can be implemented during the course of this year.”
• The activities of the Central Laboratory, responsible for testing all locally manufactured and imported drugs according to unified criteria, has been suspended since the 1990s.
• Abiad also said that the “meetings with various international bodies and Arab ministers could also lead to other aid, in particular Qatari support to supply government hospitals with fuel oil, necessary to operate the generators, while the State only provides a few hours of current per day.”
• The minister also reported having dealt on several occasions, during his trip to Geneva, with the issue of Syrian refugees in Lebanon. "Lebanon has done everything it can towards these displaced people since the start of the crisis in Syria and, in return, the international community must support Lebanon and its health system," he said.