Sunday, 22 February 2015

Hospital fails to reconcile with health ministry


BEIRUT: A prestigious Beirut hospital said Sunday that its doors are still open to patients with health coverage from Lebanon’s Health Ministry, one day after the latter announced that it had terminated the government's contact with the facility.


In a statement published Sunday, the Hotel Dieu Hospital in Beirut's Ashrafieh district announced its commitment to treating emergency cases pertaining to patients who are covered by the Health Ministry.


The announcement came one day after the Health Ministry terminated its contract with the hospital because it refused to admit a patient suffering from disability.


The patient, who was neither covered by the National Social Security Fund nor a private insurance company, was to undergo the procedure at the expense of the Health Ministry.


The hospital responded by claiming that it did not refuse to admit the patient who visited the facility earlier this month, but instead delayed the surgery since the patient was not deemed to be in urgent need of the operation.


According to the statement, delaying the procedure was also due to the fact that the operation required a one month stay in the hospital which meant that arrangements had to be made in coordination with the physicians' schedules and the availability of rooms. The hospital claimed that it had informed the family of the patient that they would be contacted with the date of the surgery when all preparations were finalized.


The hospital called on the Health Ministry to refer its complaints directly to the hospital’s president in an effort to avoid any future misunderstandings.


In response, the Health Ministry also released a statement Sunday, refuting the hospital's version of events.


The statement said that patient Loris Khalil, who was issued a disability card by Dr. Khalil Kharat, an orthopedic specialist at Hotel Dieu, visited the hospital earlier this month after suffering from acute inflammation in her feet.


The patient who has been suffering from the disability since she fell off the fifth floor of her building in 2013, decided to undergo surgery after consulting with the Dr. Gabriel Saliba, another physician in the hospital.


In turn, Salbia had ordered her to complete the necessary paperwork and said that the hospital would contact her when preparations for the procedure were finalized.


However, the hospital did not contact the patient, which prompted the intervention of Health Minister Wael Abu Faour who tasked a ministerial official with ensuring the hospital’s compliance with treating Khalil.


During talks, the hospital's president repeatedly refused to carry out the procedure due to the operation’s high cost and the facility's contract was thus terminated, the statement said.


As a result of the contract cancelation, Hotel Dieu will no longer be allowed to treat patients covered by the ministry.


Sunday’s statement also warned that any facility that “humiliates citizens” in a similar manner will meet the same fate.



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