Ministry of Finance paid
all hospital dues in arrears

Hospital owners: $260 million

outstanding have not reached ministry

The Ministry of Finance (MoF) said it has paid LL213 billion ($141 million at the official LL1,507 rate, or $25 million at an exchange rate of LL8,500), so far this year, of dues owed by public sector entities to private and public hospitals. “There are currently no more arrears for hospitals,” read a statement by the Ministry of Finance.

Sleiman Haroun, Chairman of the Syndicate of Private Hospitals, said that public sector hospitalization coverage providers often fail to send the payment claims to MoF in a timely manner.

He said that money owed by the State to hospitals averages LL100 billion per month. “Dues for 2020 alone have reached LL900 billion so far,” said Haroun. He said that there are accumulated dues from previous years that total LL2.2 trillion (around $1.5 billion at the official rate and $260 million at today’s black market rate). Half of the 2019 dues have not been paid yet.

He said that with the rapidly declining exchange rate of the lira, these dues have lost a lot of their value, which may lead to the collapse of the hospital sector.

MoF pledged to give priority to such payment obligations as soon as they are received from the concerned parties.

Concerned entities include the Ministry of Public Health, the Army, the Internal Security Forces, and other State institutions.