by Dana Halawi
BEIRUT, Apr 27 (NNN-XINHUA) – Iman Ismail used Lebanese herbal medicine, to treat her seven-year-old son’s mild arthritis, after a visit to a doctor in her neighbourhood cost her 500,000 Lebanese pounds (18.5 U.S. dollars) and incurred another two million pounds in prescribed medication.
“I did not expect medicine prices to have increased to such an extent,” Iman, a part-time tailor from the southern town of Nabatieh, told Xinhua.
As the service costs at a Rheumatologist have been skyrocketing, the best alternative she could find to help her son is now herbal medicine, according to Iman.
A traditional clinic in Nabatieh recommended a few types of herbs for reducing her child’s symptoms in approximately a month, giving her a window to save money for future spending on a more specialised clinic.
“It surely helps my son until I figure out a way to pay for medicines prescribed by his Rheumatologist, if his symptoms worsen,” Iman said.
Jamila Halawani, whose five-year-old son can’t get enough sleep, due to severe cough and phlegm, visited a well-known herbalist clinic in al-Rafid, a southern town of the Bekaa governorate, and was prescribed three doses of hot green tea a day and one dose of ginger mixed with lemon juice.
“This mixture luckily helped relieve my child’s cough which saved me the cost of a doctor visit and medicines,” Halawani told Xinhua.
As much as 80 percent of Lebanese are paid in the Lebanese pound, which is collapsing, due to a shortage of foreign reserves, bringing about a dire financial predicament for most citizens.
Doctor fees were doubling and medication prices have been soaring exponentially after the Central Bank of Lebanon, in Nov, 2021, lifted most drug subsidies, due to a broader cash-strapped situation.
The financial crisis also plunged the National Social Security Fund into a great deficit, forcing it to halt its health coverage for citizens, including hospitalisation and medicine bills.
Jamal Abu Daoud, a public health specialist, confirmed to Xinhua that, the number of patients in his clinic dropped remarkably, as patients have become unable to secure the cost of examinations, medicines, lab tests, and x-rays.
“Some patients are even unable to make it to my clinic, as transportation costs have increased to a great extent,” he said.
On the other hand, Mansour Qaddoura, a herbalist in Lebanon’s eastern town of al-Bireh, seemed to be doing well, with his office being overcrowded with patients with different health issues.
“Our treatments focus on herbs, including, but not limited to, garlic, parsley, ginger, purslane, green tea, thyme, potato, chamomile, blackberry, pomegranate peel and pumpkin,” he said, adding that, prices of herbs went up by 20 percent but remain less expensive than mainstream medication.
Jacques Choucair, head of the infectious diseases department, at Hotel Dieu Hospital in Beirut, told Xinhua that, alternative medicine is a broad term that can include acupuncture, herbal medicine, and other forms of treatment.
“I am in favour of acupuncture, which helps in releasing pain and treating inflammation, in addition to herbal medicine, as half of our medicines are made of herbs,” he said, noting that herbalists should know the exact dosage.– NNN-XINHUA
