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HEALTH CRISIS

Health Minister: Hospitals may no longer dismiss patients until they can find hospital care elsewhere

Health Minister: Hospitals may no longer dismiss patients until they can find hospital care elsewhere

Firas Abiad, at the end of July 2021, a few weeks before his appointment as Minister of Health in the government of Najib Mikati. (AFP file photo)

BEIRUT — Caretaker Health Minister Firas Abiad issued a decree Monday prohibiting hospitals from dismissing emergency room patients in need of care until they find a bed at another hospital. 

According to the decree, patients have repeatedly died while being moved from one hospital to another, under the pretext that those needing medical attention can not pay admission fees. 

The decree also said that patients' medical statuses must be checked before they are moved to another hospital and after securing a bed for them there. Hospitals must coordinate such transfer procedures with the Health Ministry.

According to the NNA, the decree was sent to public and private hospitals as well as to the Red Cross.

Like other sectors, Lebanon's health sector is suffering amid the country's unprecedented economic crisis, causing a decline in healthcare services. The World Health Organization (WHO) estimated in Sept. 2021 that nearly 40 percent of Lebanon's doctors and almost 30 percent of nurses had departed since the previous year.



BEIRUT — Caretaker Health Minister Firas Abiad issued a decree Monday prohibiting hospitals from dismissing emergency room patients in need of care until they find a bed at another hospital. According to the decree, patients have repeatedly died while being moved from one hospital to another, under the pretext that those needing medical attention can not pay admission fees. The decree...