“I’ll die if I don’t find the medicine, in both cases I will die. ” The state of cancer patients in Lebanon

In light of the prolonged economic crisis that Lebanon has been witnessing for nearly two years and has been ranked by the World Bank among the worst in the world since 1850, no sector has remained immune from repercussions of the collapse Including the hospitalization sector and pharmaceuticals mostly imported from abroad.

Rita never imagined that providing the medicines needed to continue her cancer treatment would upset her more than suffering from a disease that ravaged her body three years ago, after medicines for incurable and chronic diseases were not spared. from the consequences of the economic collapse.

Rita has cancer

Rita has cancer

Rita, 53, who preferred to use a pseudonym, told AFP that she couldn’t hold back her tears: “A cancer patient is the one who suffers the most in the universe ( .) Treatment is like a fire. that enters your body . Above all, we must seek medicine. “.

“In any case, (I) is dead.”

The shortage of drugs has led to a significant increase in their prices due to the collapse of the lira against the dollar, and the suffering of patients, most of whom are now no longer in able to provide their own care or bear the cost of their own purchase has worsened.

The Ministry of Health provided medicines almost free of charge to those without health insurance, and many people have benefited from it, including Rita, who was diagnosed with cervical cancer three years ago, before it recently expanded into her lungs. and caused several health complications. But he can no longer do it regularly.

Patricia recently had cancer

“My brother went to the Ministry of Health to look for my medicines and he couldn’t find them. I don’t know what to do,” says Rita, a mother of three who lives in her brother’s home who supports her as she shows her drug collection.

After explaining at length the stages of his treatment and the disposition of infections, aside from his recent diabetes, he explains, bursting in tears, of having taken in lending money to buy the drug recently from the market.

“If I can’t take in loan this time, what should I do? Do I wait until my turn (to get medicine from the Ministry of Health) and miss a stage of treatment and the cancer spreads more? “


She adds: “If the medicine is not available, I will die .”, then continues desperately: “In both cases, (I) is dead”.

“this is humiliation”

According to a report released by the World Health Organization’s “World Cancer Monitor” in March 2021, Lebanon has recorded 28,764 cases of cancer over the past five years, including 11,600 cases in 2020. However, doctors explain that the number of people who receiving treatment exceeds this number considering that the duration of treatment for some patients can extend for years.

The head of the Association of Hematologists in Lebanon, the professor Ahmed Ibrahim, told AFP that in Lebanon there are 2000 to 2500 cases of leukemia and lymphatic diseases every year and that “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 in periodically, some of them will die, “noting that” some patients were on the verge of healing and reached a stage near the end of treatment. Suddenly, the medicines were cut off. “

Smuggling, monopoly and price scams

Since the beginning of the year, the Lebanese have searched in vain for their drugs in pharmacies whose shelves are empty. Users of the social network they publish the names of the medications they need on a daily basis, from regular pain relievers to medications for regular and chronic illnesses. Many depend on their friends and family abroad to secure their medicines, at very high prices compared to the local subsidized price. in one moment in where 78 percent of Lebanese live below the poverty line.

Cancer patients in Lebanon

Cancer patients in Lebanon

Import companies used to submit import invoices to the Banque du Liban for payment, as part of the subsidy policy. However, with the scarcity of the dollar and the flourishing of smuggling, monopoly and price manipulation, it began to require the prior approval of the Ministry of Health for the import of medicines and to pay the bills subsequently, which led to the ‘accumulation of company shares. The latter gradually stopped importing.

In light of the crisis, Health Minister Hamad Hassan announced Wednesday the intention of the World Bank and international institutions to “allocate $ 25 million for the purchase of chronic and intractable drugs” to supply them to the Lebanese.

“What is the patient’s fault?”

Various initiatives and associations raise their voices, including the Barbara Nassar Association, which supports cancer patients, which organized a vigil in Beirut on Thursday, in which dozens of patients participated, to ask for the supply of anticancer drugs .

“Imagine that in Lebanon A cancer patient, with all his worries, is asked to get off in street and ask for medicines “, the president of the association, Hani Nassar told AFP.” What is the fault of the patient if the state is not in able to control the crisis? “

He warns that the risk is that some patients “may die later” unless they take “drugs that protect their bodies from a wider spread of cancer” today.

Eight months after her wedding, 29-year-old Patricia Nassif learned in April that she had breast cancer, which turned her life upside down after wanting to be a mother.

Leafing through old photos of herself on the phone before putting on her wig and gaining weight from the treatment, the young woman recounts how she often “loses hope” and wonders if she will live “and for how long”. His biggest concern at the moment is how to deliver a drug he needs during the 12 treatment sessions he will start soon, and he is currently cut off from the market.

“This is humiliation,” he says scornfully, “maybe all our efforts will be in vain and the cancer will spread again?”

He continues: “It’s as if they were 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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