Salam Rayes is the chief executive officer of the Ashrafieh-based St. George Hospital, one of Beirut’s oldest healthcare institutions. Executive sat down with Rayes for a frank discussion on the ailing state of healthcare in Lebanon. E in last year’s Facts & Forecasts issue, Executive looked into how the National Social Security Fund and insurance were the biggest obstacles to the healthcare industry in Lebanon. Has anything changed? Basically, there is no change — the problems are the same. The main problem is that the healthcare sector is fragmental and there is no policy or guidance to the sector. The private sector works on its own and the public sector works on its own. And the public sector is [really] public sectors — social security, the Ministry of Public Health, the armed forces. Each one has its own healthcare program and health coverage. And then again you have the
Josh Wood is a journalist based in Boston. He was previously based in Beirut, where he was a correspondent for The National. His work focuses on refugees, US foreign policy and conflicts in the Middle East.
