Collective Action
Barbara Nassar Association For Cancer Patient Support organises a march in Beirut to denounce medicine shortages and medication trafficking, expensive and out-of-reach treatments, and the government's inaction
On Sunday, dozens of demonstrators and cancer patients marched from Martyrs' Square in downtown Beirut to the Statue of the Emigrant, in front of the port, to denounce the difficulty of accessing treatment amid Lebanon's economic collapse. The protesters decried medicine shortages, expensive and out-of-reach treatments, and medication trafficking, as well as the government's failure to provide the necessary funds to help patients.
"The majority of breast cancer screening is done today at a late stage ... due to a lack of means to get tested annually," Hani Nassar, president of the Barbara Nassar Association For Cancer Patient Support, which organized Sunday's demonstration, told L'Orient-Le Jour by phone. "The patients then fight against death and not against the disease," he said.According to Nassar, "the rates for ultrasounds and mammographies, which before the onset of the crisis cost about LL80,000, now oscillate between LL3 million and LL4 million. These figures are out of reach for many Lebanese whose purchasing power has been considerably reduced."
"Hundreds of patients have been forced to stop their treatment because of the high cost of drugs and chemotherapy sessions. Others are unable to find their drugs, as many products are out of stock in Lebanon or delivered in insufficient quantities," Nassar said.
President of the Pharmacists' Syndicate Joe Salloum, who also participated in the rally, pointed out medicine shortages. "Many subsidized treatments that reach Lebanon are sold on the black market at inflated prices," he told L'Orient-Le Jour, urging improved traceability of products. Salloum demanded that the share of the state budget devoted to the subsidies of these drugs "increase from LL25 to LL60 million" to meet the needs of all patients. Finally, Salloum said he hoped that drugs stored in the warehouses of the Ministry of Health in Beirut's Karantina neighborhood "be delivered to all patients, not just those who do not benefit from the National Social Security Fund coverage, while the NSSF is no longer able to cover the care of patients."
وطنية - نظم "التجمع الطبي الاجتماعي اللبناني" مسيرة انطلقت من أمام تمثال المغترب الى تمثال الحرية وسط بيروت بالتنسيق مع جمعية "بربارة نصار لمرضى السرطان"، استنكارا لفقدان الأدوية.
وأسف رئيس التجمع رائف رضا "لترك مرضى السرطان للقدر في غياب الأدوية"، محملا "وزارة الصحة المسؤولية، فالقانون الطبي يقر بالعلاقة السببية بين تطور حال المريض نحو الاسواء الى الموت في حال لم يأخذ المريض علاجه الصحيح نتيجة فقدان الدواء، فيتحول المرض السرطاني المحصور الى الانتشار والموت السريع، وهذا له تبعات قانونية يتحملها المؤتمن على صحه الناس وهو وزير الصحة".
ودعاه الى "زيارة السفارات لطلب هبات ومساعدات، وإلى التنسيق مع وزير الخارحية لإرسال تعاميم الى السفارات اللبنانية في الخارج لطلب هبات أدويه للسرطان".
وسأل عن "التحقيق في سرقة الهبة الاميركية لمرضى السرطان والذي اختفى بعد اسبوعين من تسلمه من وزارة الصحة".