30 health centers planned

Ministry submits draft law for primary healthcare

The Ministry of Health (MoH) launched the ‘strategic plan for primary healthcare’. The plan aims at activating state-owned healthcare centers, increasing their number, and upgrading the services they offer. It also calls for more collaboration with NGOs.

Randa Hamadeh, head of the Primary Healthcare department at MoH said: “These centers offer treatments for chronic and non-chronic illnesses, as well as other services in various medical fields, including cardiology and dentistry.” The centers, financed through the MoH and a number of NGOs, charge between LL5,000 and LL12,000 for their services.

“We launched a two-week vaccination campaign across ten cazas, starting today (January 21), for Lebanese children and refugees,” Hamadeh said.

Currently there are 170 such centers across the country. The MoH plans on building 30 new centers by the end of 2013. “A draft law for organizing the operation of health centers was submitted to Cabinet,” Hamadeh said.