Middle East health care in context.

Byline: Josie Ensor

Summary: <p>Stacked up against global powers, it's tough for Lebanon to compete, but for a country of its size it boasts some of the most advanced technological resources in the region and a great record for the quality physicians that come out of its world-class teaching hospitals. However, the country's health care scheme is not without its problems.

BEIRUT: Stacked up against global powers, it's tough for Lebanon to compete, but for a country of its size it boasts some of the most advanced technological resources in the region and a great record for the quality physicians that come out of its world-class teaching hospitals. However, the country's health care scheme is not without its problems.Aa

In the context of the Middle East, Lebanon is both winner and loser of the health game. Health is higher on the national agenda than neighboring Syria and Jordan, but the results don't always match up.Aa

A look at primary health indicators, such as doctor-to-patient ratio, shows that Jordan rates very high: for every 10,000 Jordanians there are 28 doctors and 10 nurses.Aa

In Syria, the rate is 10.9 physicians and 21.2 nurses while in Lebanon there are reportedly only 6.5 physicians for every 10,000 people, according to 2008 World Health Organization figures.Aa

The 2009 Arab Human Development report, meanwhile, shows despite its high government health expenditure at 12 percent per capita, Lebanon scores in the bottom half for infant mortality and life expectancy at birth. These health indicators for primary health care show some discrepancies between the amount spent on care and the quality received. According to the report, the country's infant mortality rate is 27 of every 10,000 live births, while Jordan's is 22, Syria's 13, and Bahrain's just a third of Lebanon's, at 9.Aa

The main health care provider in Jordan is the public sector, which is complemented by private health care and international organizations such as UNRWA. The developing country's health care service has dramatically improved over the last two decades, which has placed it among the top ten countries in reducing infant mortality. Sixty-nine percent of Jordanians receive free health care, due to their status as public sector employees or their dependants. In comparison, the figure currently signed up with the NSSF in Lebanon has reached just 23.4 percent this year.Aa

Salam Homoud, a Jordanian citizen and a regular visitor to Lebanon, has had experience of the Jordanian health care system since his mother fell ill three years ago.Aa

"We are privately insured and the hospital we use is spectacular. It's clean, modern and the doctors are great. Some people say the government hospitals are not as good, but I think they are."Aa

Jordan attracts health tourists from around the world to undergo routine operations at a cheaper price than in their home country, with many visitors from northern Africa in particular.Aa

Lebanon's neighbor Syria, whose government health expenditure rests at just 6.8 percent of GDP, enjoys a slightly higher life expectancy and a lower rate of infant mortality than Lebanon, whose output is greater. The country's ruling Baath Party has previously placed an emphasis on health care, but funding levels haven't kept up with demand or maintained quality, leaving its overall health care rating low compared to the region.Aa

Lebanon's Ministry of Health recently won a battle with pharmaceutical companies to lower the price of medicine: where companies were once making a 75 percent profit government intercession means it is now as low as 45 percent. Medication above the $10 bracket, as stipulated by new legislation, can now be purchased in the country at a cost-cutting price.Aa

However, some say the current price of pharmaceuticals, particularly psychiatric medicine, is still too costly. Dr Jamal Hafez, Head of Psychiatry at Dar al-Ajaza al-Islamia Hospital, says people are often forced to buy their medicine from neighboring Syria. " [If] a box of medication here costs close to $200, in Syria it is closer to $50," Hafez says, meaning people have little alternative.

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