Minister of Public Health, Hamad Hassan, considered in an interview with “Radio Lebanon” Station on Friday, that “what has been accomplished so far in the face of the Corona epidemic has yielded reassuring field results,” stressing the need “to adhere to the government’s plan in the next stage and to exercise utmost caution.”
Hassan expressed concern that “what we are witnessing in the street endangers the safe return to normal life in all its manifestations, as fear of the second wave of the virus lies in the absence of symptoms among the infected while in contact with other citizens.”
The Health Minister revealed that he did not request any increase in the budget of the health sector, expressing his intention to “reduce the hospital and medication bill, without undermining the health of the citizen.” Accordingly, he called on all heads of the boards of directors of private and government hospitals to “review and audit their hospital bills before submitting them to the Ministry of Health.”
On the issue of refugee camps, Hassan praised the “serious commitment of the displaced Syrians and Palestinian refugees to the preventive measures,” stressing “transparency in receiving grants and aids from international institutions, away from waste expenditure.”
In response to a question about the mechanism of responding to crises, Minister Hassan announced that “the epidemic experience revealed our need to plan and manage resources, in light of the Central Health Council’s failure to convene for more than twenty years.”
Hassan cautioned against generalization in certain decisions, such as stopping employment in public administrations, since that would deprive the health sector of its strength component.
The Health Minister concluded by reiterating the need to “remain committed to procedures”, noting that “the transition to the next stage takes place on the basis of a weekly assessment that will determine the path of lifting the general mobilization.”
Source: NNA
