UNHCR to end Syrian refugees' medical coverage in Lebanon by late November

The last day for a Syrian refugee to have their medical expenses in Lebanon covered by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) will be Nov. 30.

The date was confirmed to L’Orient-Le Jour by UNHCR spokesperson in Lebanon, Lisa Abou Khaled. “Due to significant budget cuts, UNHCR will be forced to end its aid for refugees’ hospitalization costs by the end of November 2025,” the spokesperson explained.

“We cannot spend resources we do not have,” she summarized, noting that as of Aug. 31, UNHCR’s financial needs were only 26 percent funded.

UNHCR’s withdrawal of medical coverage happened gradually. In June 2024, the organization already cut coverage for "non-urgent" medical care, or care “without immediate risk to life,” by 60 to 70 percent from its previous level, with beneficiaries having to cover the difference in costs themselves.

Care still covered at the time included deliveries, neonatal and pediatric care and emergency interventions. This will no longer be the case by the end of the month.

NGOs 'expect to replace UNHCR'

Asked about the measure, Pierre Yared, president of the syndicate of hospital owners in Lebanon, warned that “Syrian refugees will show up without coverage for extreme emergencies, such as trauma, fractures or a heart attack,” which, according to him “will create a real problem in the relationship between Syrian patients and hospitals,” be they public or private.

Regarding the possibility of support or contributions from Lebanon's Health Ministry, Yared said, “No program” is planned to offset the loss of UNHCR support. He noted that so far, the ministry “covers nothing.”

After contacting the Health Ministry for comment, we did not receive a response to our request.

Public hospitals “do not have the means to cover expenses for equipment, medicine, prosthetics or operations,” Yared said.

According to Health Ministry records, 35,000 Syrian babies were born in Lebanon in 2024. The real number is likely higher, he said, since “some infants were not registered.”

He warned of a potential strain on the obstetrics sector.

A source familiar with Lebanon's hospital sector, who requested anonymity, said that NGOs operating in the health sector “all expect to replace UNHCR.”

According to this person, hospitals north and south of Beirut serving Syrians are already “feeling a difference” in patient numbers. “Syrians are seeking care less often and there are fewer births,” with some doctors noting that “some women travel to Syria to give birth because care is better there.”

The number of Syrian refugees officially registered in Lebanon is 722,173, according to a UNHCR estimate from March 31, 2025. The actual number of Syrians residing in Lebanon is estimated at 1.4 million, as UNHCR stopped registering new refugees in May 2015.

By the end of the year, about 400,000 Syrians — both migrants and refugees — could have returned home. This return has been facilitated by the fall of Bashar al-Assad’s regime on Dec. 8, 2024, to the Islamists led by interim president Ahmad al-Sharaa.

“We expect to receive both registered and unregistered Syrian patients,” the hospital source continued, noting that their clientele, which was 90 percent Syrian before 2019, is now 20 percent Syrian.

On Oct. 10, several public hospitals in northern Lebanon expressed deep concern about the announced end of UNHCR medical coverage.

According to them, the measure “would double the financial and operational burdens” of public hospitals, “which are already under severe pressure.”

The statement, signed by the government hospital of Tripoli, the Minyeh hospital, Abdallah Rassi Hospital in Halba, Sir Dinnieh hospital, and Orange Nassau hospital, called on the United Nations and donors to reconsider their decision.