Interior, Health ministries join to improve primary health care
The Interior Ministry and the Health Ministry signed a partnership agreement on Tuesday to reinforce collaboration on primary health care.
Speaking to reporters after signing the agreement at Beirut’s Galleria Hotel, Interior Minister Ziyad Baroud and Health Minister Mohammad Jawad Khalifeh stressed the importance of such a partnership to ensure primary health care throughout Lebanon through municipalities and health centers.
“Health care is a guaranteed constitutional right,” Baroud said, calling on all ministries to follow suit with partnerships that would secure needs of the Lebanese people.
The collaboration’s timing is especially meaningful, the ministers agreed, as a caretaker government is currently in place. Baroud and Khalifeh said they refused to accept the current political impasse as an excuse for neglect.
“It is necessary to show that the country does not go into a deep sleep during a governmental shift,” said Baroud, adding that ministries perform their duties regardless of the political situation.
Khalifeh seconded Baroud, saying that under a caretaker government, citizens should not feel any change and their interests should still be considered. “The country’s projects cannot be frozen and the people’s health and education needs cannot be ignored,” he said.
The ministers also stressed that municipalities and NGOs should be involved in health care projects in order to insure decentralized development. “The Interior Ministry has conducted numerous studies concerning decentralization, especially in the field of health care, and these studies will be reported to both the government and the Parliament,” Baroud said.
Khalifeh meanwhile said he considered the limiting of powers to the minister, such as the current requisite for his signature of approval for every patient admitted to hospital, as political feudalism.
“Primary health care should be in the hands of community institutions since they are the ones most aware of people’s needs,” Khalifeh said, adding that the Health Ministry was ready to partner with any municipality in order to improve services.
Khalifeh nevertheless pointed to several complaints received by his ministry about things ranging from the selling of expired meat to contaminated water. “Local authorities should properly fulfill their duties,” Khalifeh said.
Baroud reiterated the important role played by municipalities, saying that according to the 1977 Municipality Law, every municipal council has the right to erect and manage hospitals and health clinics. He also pointed to the need to guarantee municipalities financial resources so they can play an active part in local development.
The lack of financial resources was also caused by the municipalities’ fear of collecting taxes from their constituents, Khalifeh believed. “The people no longer elect their mayors and this can make the municipality’s job even more difficult as financial resources are needed to undertake any project,” he said.
Khalifeh stressed, however, that municipality collaboration with the two ministries was not only necessary for financial reasons but also for practical reasons. “Many programs are presented to the Health Ministry such as early diagnosis, diabetes and vaccination programs, but their execution requires the proper networks and systems,” he said.
The partnership agreement was followed by a series of primary care workshops in which mayors and several health care centers participated.