Caretaker health minister, Dr. Hamad Hasan, said that Lebanon would sign an agreement with Pfizer company to import its anti-coronavirus vaccine shots on December 12, adding that the agreement will be carried out by early February.
Dr. Hasan noted he was satisfied with the achievements that have been recorded thus far in the development of public hospitals in Lebanon.
The minister, who met with the council of the Lebanese Editors’ Syndicate, headed by Joseph Kosseifi, made it clear that the plan that he had disclosed during the recent Grand Serail meetings on rationalizing subsidies primarily aimed to ensure medicine safety, in addition to the rationalization of subsidies in a bid to reduce the bill of imported medicines.
He added that this plan would provide approximately $250 million in savings.
In the same context, the minister recalled that the medicine bill in Lebanon is considered the highest in the Middle East region. However, he went on to affirm that the basic principle was not to increase the prices of medicines for people with limited income, especially the prices of essential medicines for chronic and cancerous diseases, or vaccines and milk for infants.
Source: Al-Manar English Website and NNA
