Amid Corona Crisis, Private Hospitals in Lebanon Not Doing Enough, Expert Says Daniel Sonnenfeld
More than 60 private hospitals have yet to accept COVID-19 patients
Lebanon, which has reported 298,913 coronavirus cases and 3,031 deaths since the start of the pandemic, has been under strict lockdown since January 14. Despite the lockdown, positivity rates remain high at about 20%. Daily cases peaked on January 15 with 6,154 new diagnoses, and have dropped since then, but remain alarmingly high. On January 30, there were 2,631 new cases, and 117,410 active cases, including 955 people in serious or critical condition, creating a serious strain on the country’s health system.
With hospital beds running out, Dr. Fadi El-Jardali, a professor of health policy and systems at the American University of Beirut (AUB), points to the privatization of Lebanon’s health system as a major cause for its inability to cope.