Patients can no longer afford vital drugs after Lebanon halts subsidies
Prices for life-saving drugs soared in Lebanon this week after the Ministry of Public Health began lifting most subsidies on medicine, which the cash-strapped state can no longer afford.
Health Minister Firass Abiad announced a plan to gradually lift grants on some medicine on November 9, causing prices to increase by as much as five or six times.
The drugs include those used to treat heart disease, high cholesterol and high blood pressure.
The ministry issued a new price list on Monday that pharmacists say was put in place on Tuesday for the first time.
Pharmacist Georges Zammar said those who needed the drugs had not expected the sudden increase and that he had to deal with angry customers throughout the day.
“I would say 90 per cent of parents asking for baby formula today left my pharmacy empty-handed. They simply didn’t have the money to pay for it,” he said on Pharmacy Radio in Beirut.
The new pricing has become unaffordable for many in a country where about 80 per cent of the population lives in poverty, UN data shows.
A packet of baby formula that lasts three days used to cost 12,000 Lebanese pounds ($0.50 at the market rate) before the latest decision.
The same packet now costs 98,000 pounds ($4.20).
Since late 2019, the Lebanese pound has lost more than 90 per cent of its worth, slashing the value of salaries as costs for basic goods rise.
The minimum wage of 675,000 Lebanese pounds was worth $450 in 2019. It is now equal to less than $30.
Medicine for cancer, some incurable diseases and mental illnesses, and drugs used in hospitals, have retained their subsidies, a representative for the ministry said.
The Lebanese state spends $35 million on medical subsidies each month, down from $130 million before the subsidy cuts, Mr Abiad said last week. The ministry will maintain its 65 per cent subsidy rate on expensive medicine for chronic diseases, while cheaper, generic drugs will receive less state support, he said.
Only wealthy customers will be able to afford the new prices, said Noura, a pharmacist in Beirut.
“People who can afford to buy medicine are still getting them, but those who do not have the means will suffer,” she said from behind the counter of an empty pharmacy, plunged into darkness by one of the city’s daily power cuts.
Lebanon has suffered an economic free fall for the past two years.
A lack of foreign currencies, compounded by decades of endemic corruption and political inaction, have left the state unable to provide for its citizens.
Petrol, electricity and now medicine are out of reach for many because subsidies have been gradually lifted, with no other social safety net in place for people in need.
The country imports 80 per cent of its drugs in foreign currencies,
A packet of baby formula that lasts three days has increased in price from 12,000 to 98,000 Lebanese pounds
which the central bank lacks, causing payment delays and shortages.
Subsidised medicine is also routinely smuggled to neighbouring Syria, worsening the dearth of drugs.
Pharmacists told The National that shortages persist despite the lifting of subsidies, but that the decision may help to alleviate the lack of medicine in the long run.
Talal, a taxi driver, said the change meant he could no longer afford the medicine he needed for his high blood pressure.
“I went to the pharmacy this morning and couldn’t believe my eyes,” he said.
“How am I supposed to afford my drugs now?”