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Globally, and according to population, Lebanon is gradually moving to the top of the list of countries that register new daily infections with the coronavirus, while it currently ranks seventy in the total number of cases of the epidemic.
For example, the Health Ministry announced yesterday that 1,018 injuries were recorded (including one expatriate only), while Germany, which includes some 84 million people and is ranked 22nd in the world in number of injuries, recorded 1,448 injuries, a rate close to that recorded by Italy (ranked No. 19 and includes 60 million people) and Turkey (18th with 85 million people). The Ministry of Health also announced the registration of 4 new deaths, bringing the total number of deaths from the virus to 351. Among the dead was a 25-year-old woman who did not suffer from any chronic disease, as confirmed by the director of the University Hospital Rafic Hariri, Firas Al-Abyad, in his tweet on «Twitter». Among the very dangerous indicators that were recorded yesterday, the percentage of positive cases amounted to about 21 percent of all residents who were tested (1,017 positive cases out of 4,847 residents who were tested).
This upward trajectory of the epidemic in Lebanon constitutes pressure to take serious measures to stop it before the health situation worsens, with an occupancy rate of beds assigned to Corona exceeding 60%, according to figures from the National Operations Chamber of Disaster Management, on the eve of flu season, which increases the pressure on respirators and hospital beds.
At a time when a complete closure does not seem possible, the serious tendency towards the isolation of the territories is reinforced; As the ministerial commission to monitor the file of the Corona epidemic headed by the interim prime minister, Hassan Diab, decided yesterday to adopt the norm for the number of wounded in the regions in relation to the number of inhabitants “to determine the villages, towns and neighborhoods that must be closed and isolated for a period of 14 days ”, with the announcement of those areas according to the online platform that will be launched by the Disaster Risk Management Unit of the Presidency of the Council of Ministers in coordination with the Ministries of Health and Interior, while the areas that will be subject to the closure and isolation decision will be given a period of two days to attend to the needs of their residents.
This measure comes at a time when daily injuries were not providing any area, requiring municipalities and local authorities to take responsibility towards residents within their area as an alternative to national plans.
At this time, concern is growing about the impact of the economic crisis on the health sector. With fears of high drug prices and talks about the suspension of import subsidies by the Banque du Liban, this fear includes, by definition, medical supplies and devices used by hospitals and thus therefore, incur in the very high prices of the patient, while information circulates about the existence of a tendency in some private hospitals to fix the price of their hospital bills. In dollars based on 4000 lira, as of the beginning of October.
The president of the Private Hospitals Union, Suleiman Haroun, explained in a call with “Al-Akhbar” that the fee for accommodation in hospital rooms, laboratory tests, X-rays, etc. “It has not changed, and we still deliver the invoices to the guarantor according to the rates established in Lebanese pounds”, noting that the variable cost corresponds to medical devices and equipment that the patient needs (cane, prostheses, etc.), which have a price in dollars. He explained that the importation of this equipment “is subsidized by the Bank of Lebanon at a rate of 85%, and that the proportion of 15% is maintained according to the market price, and the additional cost incurred by the patient is the difference in price in market dollars. “
For their part, sources from the insurers clarified, in contact with “Al-Akhbar”, that they have not yet made a decision on the matter, while sources from the Social Security Fund denied having notified such a decision from any of the hospitals, noting that the information indicates that the difference between the official price approved by the guarantee (1515 pounds per dollar) and the price in dollars of 4000 pounds, if approved, the hospitals will charge the patients and not the guarantors.
Source: News
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