Nasreddine and Sayyed announce medical coverage for displaced residents of south Lebanon border villages

BEIRUT — Health Minister Rakan Nasreddine and Social Affairs Minister Hanine Sayyed announced that the Health Ministry will fully cover hospitalization and certain surgeries for 17,000 displaced residents from villages near the Israeli border.

"Coverage for Health Ministry patients in public hospitals is normally 80 percent. But it will now be 100 percent for displaced patients from border villages in public hospitals, for hospitalizations and surgeries specified by the ministry, to ease the financial burden on those populations," said the health minister.

"Lists of displaced people eligible for this measure will be obtained from the Ministry of Social Affairs, which maintains up-to-date records of displaced residents from border villages whose homes were destroyed and livelihoods lost, and who have not yet returned. These lists will be sent to hospitals, and forms will be distributed to residents through the municipalities. Patients must present these forms at the hospital in order to automatically receive full coverage from the ministry," Nasreddine added.

Many residents of South Lebanon have still not been able to return to their destroyed villages, as Israeli strikes continue daily. Reconstruction has also not begun, as the international community ties it to the need to disarm Hezbollah.

Nasreddine also pledged "to maintain this measure indefinitely," while expressing hope that "people can soon return home." He explained that "the coverage includes hospitalization — meaning admission to the hospital — as well as more than 300 surgical procedures." "However, some surgical procedures are not covered by the ministry; in these cases, only the reimbursement difference with insurance is covered," he noted.

For her part, Sayyed said teams from her ministry "have visited more than 67,000 families affected by the [Israeli] aggression, providing them with over $20 million in aid funded by donors over a six-month period."

"During these visits, a detailed and regularly updated database regarding the situation and needs of families was built and integrated into the ministry's social registry," Sayyed said.

"The Ministry of Social Affairs has decided to share this data with the Health Ministry to ensure hospitalization of residents of affected border villages," she added.