Hospitals to be paid past debts till 2011

The ministries of Finance (MoF) and Public Health (MoPH) have issued a decision to speed up the process of auditing and paying the hospitals’ debts from 2000 till 2011, which amounted to $120 million.

Under the law enacted in 2012, the Government should give hospitals Treasury bills for dues.

MoF issued this decision after sending several letters to the Cabinet to decide on the process of auditing the hospitals’ debts. Sleiman Haroun, Chairman of the Syndicate of Private hospitals, said that all the bills are audited by (MoPH) and all hospitals have submitted their applications to be paid their debts. “We expect to receive our dues in early 2016.

The decision issued by the ministries instructs that discounts will be imposed on these dues. Sometimes hospitals exceed the limited financial ceiling, but they continue accepting patients according to direct instructions by the MoPH. The decision instructs that the committee will slash 40 percent of the amount of these debts. It will also slash ten percent on the lump sum of the cost of surgeries and 25 percent on bills per medical act.

According to Haroun, due to this decision, the debts would be reduced to $90 million. “We have to abide by this decision,” said Haroun.

He said that this decision will impact patients negatively, because from now on hospitals will never agree to exceed their financial ceilings. “If the Government wants us to fulfill our duties, it should give us all of our rights,” he said.

Hospitals also have financial dues from 2012 to 2015, ranging around $80 million. Around 100 hospitals will benefit from this decision.