Laboratories are facing a great crisis: reagents needed for blood tests are starting to run out of stock. In question, a lack of funds for their importation. These kits, which are part of the medical equipment, are covered by the subsidy mechanism put in place by the central bank in November 2019 to deal with the depreciation of the Lebanese pound on the parallel market. A major part of their import price is thus covered by the Banque du Liban at the official rate of 1,507.5 pounds and the other part must be insured by the importer. The proportion is 85% of subsidized dollars and 15% of fresh dollars. Contacted by L’Orient-Le Jour, several laboratory heads in university hospitals confirmed information shared in this direction on WhatsApp. Fady Hobeiche, head of the laboratory at the Lebanese Hospital – Geitaoui, affirms that for some time now “his laboratory has lacked certain reagents, such as those needed for a serology test in the event of a blood donation”. “I’m only doing the urgent tests, but in a few days we won’t even have the means to do those tests as well,” he adds. This is all the more serious as soon we will run out of all the basic kits. It’s a matter of a few days. A solution must be found quickly. ”
Speaking yesterday on the subject, the chairman of the parliamentary health committee, Assem Araji, said in a radio interview that efforts are being made to address the problem and allow the laboratories to continue to function normally. To be continued…
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Laboratories are facing a great crisis: reagents needed for blood tests are starting to run out of stock. In question, a lack of funds for their importation. These kits, which are part of the medical equipment, are covered by the subsidy mechanism put in place by the central bank in November 2019 to cope with the depreciation of the …
