WHO Says 3,500 Medical Staff Left Lebanon, 600 Pharmacies Closed As Health Care Collapses

MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 23rd September, 2021) As many as 3,500 medical workers have left Lebanon and 600 pharmacies have shut down as the healthcare system in the middle Eastern nation is on the brink of collapsing, World Health Organization (WHO) Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said on Thursday.

The remark was made upon the WHO chief's return from a trip in Afghanistan and Lebanon to Geneva.

"A deadly combination of the political and financial crisis, last year explosion at Beirut port and the COVID-19 pandemic are having devastating consequences for the health of Lebanese people, there is ... a serious shortage of supplies, medical equipment, fuel and electricity. Two thousand medical doctors and 1,500 registered nurses have left the country, and 600 private pharmacies have closed," Tedros told a press conference.

Lebanon has been gripped with deep economic and political crises for the last few years, with its national Currency repeatedly hitting record lows and the population facing a shortage of fuel and other essentials. The situation was further exacerbated by the pandemic and a powerful blast that rocked the Lebanese capital in August 2020.

Amid a severe shortage of medicines, pharmacists and medical staff in Lebanon held several demonstrations throughout the summer, calling on the government to bring order to subsidies of medicine and find a solution to the crisis in the health care sector.