Lebanon's drug importers renewed, on Sunday, the warning that stocks of hundreds of pharmaceutical brands are running out in a country mired in a prolonged economic collapse, affecting mainly the health and services sectors.

In light of the scarcity of the central bank’s reserves of hard currency, the authorities began months ago to seek to rationalize or lift subsidies on the import of basic commodities such as flour, fuel and medicines, to begin gradually without an official announcement to lift subsidies on several commodities, which increased the suffering of the Lebanese, in one of the the worst economic and financial crises in the world, according to the World Bank.

The Syndicate of Pharmaceutical Importers said in a statement that "the import process has been almost completely halted for more than a month."

The syndicate talked about the value of the accumulated dues in favor of drug-exporting companies, which exceeded 600 million dollars, which should have been paid by the Central Bank in addition to opening new credits, warning at the same time that "the importing companies' stocks of hundreds of essential medicines that treat chronic and incurable diseases are running out."

"The situation will be catastrophic by the end of July (...) Thousands of patients will be deprived of their medicines," Karim Jbara, head of the Syndicate of Drug Importers, told AFP.

The Syndicate confirmed that the only solution currently is to "continue to support the drug according to the priorities of the Ministry of Public Health."

Thursday, President Michel Aoun met with Caretaker Prime Minister Hassan Diab, Finance Minister Ghazi Wazni, Health Minister Hamad Hassan and Governor of the Banque du Liban Riad Salameh, and it was "agreed to continue the policy of supporting medicine, supplies and medical implants."

Since the fall of 2019, Lebanon has witnessed an accelerating economic collapse, the worst in the country's history, exacerbated by the horrific explosion of the Beirut Port on Aug. 4 and the measures to confront the coronavirus.

The struggle over shares and influence between political forces has prevented the formation of a government for months, and the local currency has lost more than ninety percent of its value, while the Central Bank is still providing importers with dollars to cover part of the import cost, according to the official price.

- Patients' lives are in danger -

Lebanon recently raised fuel prices by more than 55 percent, as part of the partial lifting of fuel subsidies with the depletion of dollar reserves at the Banque du Liban.

The Lebanese have been waiting for weeks for hours in long queues in front of gas stations, which adopted a policy of severe rationing in the distribution of gasoline and diesel, while the ability of the Electricité du Liban to provide electricity has gradually decreased, bringing the hours of rationing in a number of regions daily to 22 hours.

"Hospitals buy diesel on a daily basis without having enough stock for more than two days, when it should be for two weeks in normal conditions," the head of the Private Hospitals Syndicate, Suleiman Haroun, told Asharq Al-Awsat newspaper.

Firas Abyad, director of Rafic Hariri University Hospital, the main center for treating Corona patients in Lebanon, said in a tweet on Twitter that the main concern for most of Lebanon's hospitals is currently electricity, "without which medical machines do not work," and added, "Old generators cannot continue to work without Stop. When it breaks, lives are in danger."