BEIRUT: Lebanese private hospitals pressed the government to settle overdue payments Thursday, asking the Health Ministry to revise pricing of medical treatments and supplies that have not changed since 1999.
“The Private Hospitals Syndicate called on the Health and Finance ministries to pay, as per the contracts, overdue payments from 2000 and 2011. Refraining from paying the fees only complicates the financial situation of hospitals,” the group said in a statement.
The state debt to hospitals was incurred as a result of the emergency treatments that the hospitals provided above the legally required ceiling. The head of the syndicate, Sleiman Haroun, has said that state institutions owed Lebanese private hospitals a total of $866 million, of which more than $333 million was due from the National Social Security Fund alone.
Health Minister Wael Abu Faour has promised that the ministry would pay the $80 million in overdue payments to hospitals.
The statement said it was unfortunate that the media kept “defaming hospitals” by publishing stories about medical centers refusing patients, noting that hospitals were facing financial problems resulting from the state's negligence in paying hospital fees.
The syndicate said private hospitals had worked to lessen the financial burden on citizens, demanding the government revised pricing list of medical supplies and treatments.
“Hospitals have decreased the price of medical implants for bone surgeries by 25 percent and succeeded in saving millions of dollars on the patients and the NSSF. ... Therefore, hospitals ask the National Social Security Fund to revise prices of medical supplies as previously requested by the Hospitals Syndicate.”
The hospitals also demanded that the NSSF review the advance paid to hospitals by taking into consideration the accumulated overdue payments the fund should be paying.
“The best alternative for the advances is to fully pay overdue payments for hospitals within a reasonable period.”
The syndicate also said that the NSSF had not yet begun implementing a recent decision issued by the Health Ministry on June 19 to decrease the prices of some medications, saying hospitals would have patients pay the price difference until NSSF applied the decree.
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