On Thursday, Lebanon’s private hospital syndicate warned that several of the country’s hospitals face closure due to a lack of foreign money needed to purchase equipment and drugs.
Suleiman Haroun, president of the syndicate, stated during a sit-in protest by representatives of hospitals near Lebanon’s central bank that “hospitals are unable to get U.S. dollar monies to buy critical equipment and materials due to existing limits on cash withdrawals by banks.”
Hospitals seem unable to protect their workers’ rights due to a lack of funds, according to Haroun.
He requested the Lebanese Central Bank to release the cash of Lebanon’s hospitals to the banks in order to avert a health sector collapse.
Lebanese companies and people alike are feeling the effects of the central bank’s limitations on withdrawals of the US dollar as a result of the country’s prolonged financial crisis.