Health Minister, Nasser Nasreddine, during the conference on the occasion of World Cancer Day, at the ministry headquarters in Beirut. (Credit: NNA)
BEIRUT — For World Cancer Day, the Health Ministry held a conference on Tuesday with the primary goal of evaluating the results of the 2023-2028 national plan to fight cancer, as well as launching the national awareness campaign on prevention.
Health Minister Rakan Nasreddine attended alongside MP Inaya Ezzeddin, French Ambassador Hervé Magro, French Senator Olivier Cadic, and the World Health Organization (WHO) representative in Lebanon, Abdel Nasser Abou Bakr.
Minister Nasreddine specified that one of the main priorities of his term is to ensure all patients can receive treatment under the scientific protocols developed by the ministry, stressing his commitment to continue on this path.
He shared some figures from the reactivation of the national cancer registry: the current cancer rate is 224 cases per 100,000 inhabitants. He emphasized the importance of raising awareness about prevention and early screening, "which could prevent 30 to 50 percent of cancers."
Regarding hospitalizations, the minister assured that "scientific committees study the files as quickly as possible while respecting good governance," adding that they manage to "process 650 files per week, with a rejection rate not exceeding 6 to 8 percent."
According to him, this has impacted the budget allocated to medicines, "which has increased from $38 million in 2024 to $103 million in 2025, thanks to the protocols adopted by the ministry," calling on doctors to "stick to treatments prescribed under these protocols so as not to give patients false hope."
The health minister also noted that this year's budget allocated to his administration is higher than previous years, "which will make it possible to raise the level of hospitalizations and ensure coverage for new operations."
For his part, Abou Bakr, WHO representative, recalled the "solid partnership between the organization and Lebanon," highlighting its role "in facilitating access to medications during the crisis by supporting more than 4,000 adult and child patients since 2022."
At the height of the severe economic and financial crisis that has hit Lebanon since 2019, cancer patients have suffered from limited access to life-saving medications, either due to lack of funding or simple unavailability on the local market.
