Caretaker Health Minister Firass Abiad. (Credit: NNA)
BEIRUT — Lebanon's caretaker Health Minister Firass Abiad on Thursday said in a statement that the ministry will start issuing "a daily index for the unsubsidized medicines' prices according to the [lira to] dollar exchange rate in the parallel market," the state-run National News Agency reported.
BDL, which has been financing the import of certain medicines and products sold in pharmacies since the beginning of the economic crisis in late 2019, has sharply reduced state subsidies since 2021 after its reserves reached a critical threshold.
Earlier today, pharmacies across the country closed their doors from 8 a.m. until 12 p.m., in compliance with a pharmacists' syndicate decision, head of the syndicate Joe Salloum told L'Orient Today. Salloum indicated that the syndicate had called on all pharmacists working in all sectors to abide by the strike "in solidarity with patients" who are no longer able to buy their medication or cannot find the medications they need in the Lebanese market.
Salloum decried the fact that many medicines can no longer be found in pharmacies or have been replaced by fake alternatives.
The Health Ministry said in its statement that it will start issuing "a daily index for the unsubsidized medicines' prices according to the [lira to] dollar exchange rate in the parallel market," adding that "the index for medicines that remain free from the significant effects of the exchange rate and are fully or partially subsidized" will be provided weekly.
The caretaker health minister added that his decision comes "in order to ensure the continuity of the drug market and citizens' access to it in light of the current and exceptional circumstances that the pharmaceutical sector in Lebanon is experiencing, amid the great fluctuation in the [lira to] dollar exchange rate."
Three years into the economic crisis, Lebanon’s drug market is still in a state of stalemate, despite a series of measures put in place by the Health Ministry, which removed subsidies on many products in an attempt to curb smuggling and end shortages.
The ministry however continues to subsidize drugs for cancer patients and those suffering from chronic illnesses.