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In view of the prolonged economic crisis that Lebanon has been going through for nearly two years and ranked by the World Bank among the worst in the world since 1850, no sector has remained immune to the repercussions of the collapse, especially the sector. hospitalization and drugs imported mainly from abroad.
Rita never imagined that providing the drugs necessary to continue her cancer treatment would trouble her more than suffering from a disease that ravaged her body three years ago, after drugs for incurable diseases and chronic diseases were not spared the consequences of the economic collapse.
Rita has cancer
Rita, 53, who preferred to use a pseudonym, told AFP that she could not hold back tears, “A cancer patient is the one who suffers the most in the universe (…) The treatment is like a fire that penetrates your body … Above all, you have to look for medicine. “.
“Either way, (I) is dead.”
The scarcity of drugs has led to a significant increase in their prices due to the collapse in the exchange rate of the lira against the dollar, and the suffering of patients, most of whom are now unable to provide their treatments or bear the cost. cost of their purchase, has worsened.
The Department of Health provided drugs to those without health insurance almost free of charge, and many people benefited from it, including Rita, who was diagnosed with cervical cancer three years ago. years, before it recently spread to his lungs and caused several health complications. But she can no longer do it regularly.
“My brother went to the Ministry of Health to get some medicine for me and he couldn’t find it. I don’t know what to do, ”says Rita, a mother of three who lives in her brother’s house who supports her while showing off her collection of medicines.
After explaining at length the steps of her treatment and the arrangement of the infections, apart from her recent diabetes, she explains, bursting into tears, that she borrowed money to buy the drug recently at the market.
She asks warmly, “If I can’t borrow this time, what should I do?” Do I wait until it is my turn (to get medicine from the Ministry of Health) and miss a step in treatment and the cancer spreads further?
She adds: “If the medicine is not available, I will die…”, then continues desperately: “In both cases, (I) is dead.
“it’s humiliation”
According to a report published by the World Cancer Monitor of the World Health Organization in March 2021, Lebanon has registered 28,764 cancer cases in the past five years, including 11,600 cases in 2020. However, doctors explain that the number of people receiving treatment exceeds this number since the duration of treatment for some patients can extend over years.
The head of the Association of Hematologists of Lebanon, Professor Ahmed Ibrahim, told AFP that around 2,000 to 2,500 cases of leukemia and lymphatic disease are recorded each year in Lebanon, and that “there is no There are currently only a few drugs that are used in their treatment. . “
And he warns that “if the treatment of these patients is not continued periodically, some of them will die,” noting that “some patients were on the verge of recovery and have reached a stage near the end of treatment. . Suddenly, the drugs were cut off from them. “
Smuggling, monopoly and rising prices
Since the beginning of the year, the Lebanese have searched in vain for their medicines in pharmacies whose shelves are empty. Users of social networking sites daily post the names of the medications they need, from regular pain relievers to medications for common and chronic illnesses. Many depend on friends and family abroad for their medicine, at very high prices compared to the locally subsidized price, at a time when 78 percent of Lebanese live below the poverty line.
Cancer patients in Lebanon
Importing companies submitted import invoices to the Banque du Liban for payment, as part of the subsidy policy. However, with the scarcity of the dollar and the rise in smuggling, monopolies, and price manipulation, he began to require prior approval from the Ministry of Health to import drugs and pay bills later. which led to the accumulation of corporate contributions. The latter gradually stopped importing.
Faced with the crisis, the interim Minister of Health Hamad Hassan announced on Wednesday the intention of the World Bank and international institutions to “allocate 25 million dollars to the purchase of chronic and incurable drugs” to provide them to the Lebanese .
“What is the patient’s fault? “
Several initiatives and associations are making their voices heard, including the Barbara Nassar association, which supports cancer patients, and organized a vigil in Beirut on Thursday, in which dozens of patients participated, to demand the supply of drugs against cancer. Cancer.
“Imagine that in Lebanon, a cancer patient, with all his worries, is asked to take to the streets and demand medication,” the association’s president, Hani Nassar, told AFP. crisis?”
He warns that the risk is that some patients “may die later” unless they take “drugs that protect their bodies against a larger epidemic of cancer.”
Eight months after her marriage, Patricia Nassif, 29, learned in April that she had breast cancer, which changed her life after wanting to be a mother.
Browsing through old photos of her on her phone before putting on a wig and gaining weight thanks to the treatment, the young woman tells how she “loses hope” often and wonders if she “will live and how long”. Her current concern is how to deliver a drug she needs during the 12 treatment sessions she will begin soon, and he is currently cut off from the market.
“It’s humiliation,” she said contemptuously. Maybe all our efforts will be in vain and the cancer will spread again? “
She continues: “It’s like they’re telling us to die slowly (…) I don’t know if they (the officials) want us to die or live. They don’t ask about our souls.”
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