The Finance Ministry announced on the morning of March 26th that they have paid their dues to hospitals all over the country. Doctors and medical workers from Rafik al-Hariri hospital had previously been striking over unpaid salaries and poor working conditions.
A source from the hospital told The Daily Star that the government had previously only paid 40% of its dues from 2019 and had made no payments for 2020.
Human Rights Watch said in a report that the government had owed about $1.3 billion in unpaid bills since 2011.
The Rafik al-Hariri hospital has been at the heart of the Coronavirus crisis since the beginning as it’s one of the few hospitals in the country that are equipped to treat patients who have the virus.
Since then, however, plans have been made to help equip other hospitals, which resulted in 11 government hospitals now being authorized to treat patients.
In this critical time, hospitals are in need of all the financial support that they can get in order to fight the Coronavirus crisis. There is currently a shortage of equipment in hospitals and if the numbers soar past 368 cases, which is the current figure as of writing, then hospitals won’t be able to treat everyone.
For this reason, people should be compelled to abide by the rules of the lockdown and stay in self-quarantine.
A vaccine for the Coronavirus is said to need at least two years of development, however, countries such as the US and China may be willing to start shipping out their vaccines during this year since the world is in a medical emergency.
In the meantime, people should work on flattening the curve to keep the Coronavirus from spreading any further. It is the duty of all citizens and residents of Lebanon to stay home and observe proper hygiene habits.
We have a dedicated coronavirus section where you can find the latest news/updates about the pandemic in Lebanon, inform yourself with WHO-verified resources, and track the number of cases in Lebanon in real-time. Click here.
