BEIRUT, Aug. 31 (Xinhua) -- Lebanese caretaker Minister of Public Health Ghassan Hasbani urged the government on Friday to allocate more funds to cover the cost of medicines provided by the Health Ministry to patients with incurable diseases, local media reported.
"Our capacity of providing medicines to citizens suffering from incurable diseases has decreased due to the absence of a proper budget," he was quoted by the National News Agency (NNA) as saying during a press conference.
A number of parliament members proposed an increase in the budget for medicines cost during one of the parliament sessions but nothing has been done in this regard.
"Also, member of parliament Eddy Abi Lamaa submitted at the beginning of this week a proposal to the parliament to secure 75 billion Lebanese pounds (50 million U.S. dollars) to cover the cost of medicines," he said.
"We cannot risk the health of patients who rely on the Health Ministry for their medical treatment," he added.
Hasbani announced at the beginning of this year that the Health Ministry's budget in the past 10 years increased by 2 percent while the number of patients under the ministry's care increased by 20 percent.
Lebanon is known to be one of the countries with the highest drug prices.
A report published lately by Al-Akhbar newspaper listed 17 drugs that cost significantly more than what they would in their countries of production, with the prices ranging from 160 percent to 763 percent as much as elsewhere.
This is why a large number of people in Lebanon rely on the ministry for access to medical drugs.
