In the ongoing bickering between the ministry of finance and the ministry of health, who pays the price? The poor citizens of Lebanon who can’t afford not being helped do. And they pay their share extravagantly.
Maamon Khaled Mohammad is a baby boy, younger than 2 years old, who died yesterday as Al Shifa’ hospital in Tripoli, North Lebanon refused to admit him. His parents didn’t have money. They were one of many Lebanese families who relied on the help of the ministry of health in order to seek hospitalization.
It is illegal for a hospital to refuse care for a critically-ill patient in Lebanon, regardless of money. But this isn’t the country where legalities matter.
This baby boy is the victim of a decree that the minister of finance Mohammad Safadi did not sign. He is the first of many victims to come if the current situation between the aforementioned ministries continues. But don’t mind the people who are dying, we have a retarded electoral law to ratify and minority MPs to increase and security situations to fix.
North Lebanon is the poorest region in the country with a poverty rate of over 52%. Many of those families don’t have money for food, let alone for our expensive hospitals. What will those families do now? The answer is quite simple: die.
Rest in peace Maamoun Khaled Mohammad.
Filed under: Lebanon Tagged: Hospital, Lebanon, Maamon Khaled Mohammad, Mohammad el Safadi, North Lebanon, poverty
