BEIRUT, March 3 (Xinhua) -- Head of the Health Committee in the Lebanese Parliament Assem Araji urged on Tuesday the cabinet to give financial support to Rafic Hariri Hospital to fight effectively against COVID-19, local media reported.
"The hospital is currently spending its own money, so there should be support by the cabinet in addition to a unified strategy with the health ministry and private hospitals," Araji was quoted as saying by Elnashra, an online independent newspaper.
Araji said that Lebanon needs to put a strategy to fight against the virus in case it spreads in the country.
"The strategy should include a plan to equip public hospitals to receive COVID-19 cases in addition to a participation by private hospitals in this regard," Araji said, adding that private hospitals have so far refused to receive any such cases.
Meanwhile, Soleiman Haroun, president of the Syndicate of Private Hospitals, said that private hospitals are afraid to receive COVID-19 cases because this would risk the patients already in these hospitals to be infected with the virus.
Parliament member Bilal Abdallah has previously called upon Lebanese authorities to create centers capable of receiving COVID-19 cases all over Lebanon in a bid to contain the virus effectively.
Lebanon has so far registered 13 COVID-19 cases while some suspected cases are still isolated under quarantine at Rafic Hariri Hospital.
