On the 21st of February 2020, Lebanon confirmed its first case of COVID-19.     Since then, the number of cases began to increase, and Lebanese authorities started taking safety measures to limit the vicious spread.

However, Lebanon is a very small country with limited space and equipment in its hospitals to account for the rising amount of cases.

That’s why measures had to be taken such as closing restaurants, bars, schools, universities, cinemas… and any public gathering place that would put people in danger. But unlike other countries, the government in Lebanon couldn’t and didn’t financially support the closed businesses     .

     Lebanese people were also urged to wear masks, always, while keeping a safe social distance from one another, and maintaining      good hygiene     by mainly washing their hands frequently     .

Concerning the Health system, long term structural deficiencies in the health system pose challenges toLebanon’s ability to take the needed public health approach to tackling the pandemic.

The health system is highly privatized, over 85% of the country’s hospital beds are within private hospitals. Some of the private hospitals are helping by creating a treatment center for COVID-19 patients.

Concerning the public hospitals, most of them are underfunded such as Rafic Hariri University Hospital. The first challenge for them was the shortage of electricity accompanied by ageing generators which leads to regular electricity cuts  .

The second challenge was the country’s financial state:      the shortage of dollars during the financial collapse      meant shortage of imported medications and supplies. Protective equipment is not produced in Lebanon and importing it became very difficult.  The government became unable to provide the necessary supplies to the healthcare establishment.

The third challenge hospitals faced during the coronavirus pandemic was the explosion of the 4th of august. Many hospitals got damaged, couldn’t take any more patients, started asking for help from other hospitals to transfer their patients to other hospitals.

It became very difficult to admit patients and give them the necessary treatments. The Lebanese Healthcare System       was under the threat of oversaturation. 

Nevertheless, the dedication of the ministry of Public Health with the small size of the country and the fact that professionals and NGO’s like the red cross are working together helped compensate the structural constraints.

The problem is now mainly financial: how will the Ministry of Health take care of those who have no insurance, which is almost half of the Lebanese population?