Harb and Zahra: We will not accept any solution that shuts down Batroun Hospital

MPs Boutros Harb and Antoine Zahra said Sunday that they will not accept any solution that would stop Batroun Hospital from operating after the end of the deadline set by the National Social Security Fund’s (NSSF) board of directors at the end of March and after the decision taken in 2009 to dissolve the hospital investment’s contract and return its management under the responsibility of the ministry of health.         

In a joint statement Harb and Zahra stressed that contacts and efforts they exerted led to the issuance of a decision from the NSSF’s board of directors on 22/3/2012 to extend the period of its management by the hospital until the end of 2012 to pave the way for serious solutions that would restore the hospital’s place of prominence in the region.        

Harb and Zahra called on all judicial authorities to cooperate in turning the hospital around and to prevent political maneuvers from obstructing the well-being of the region’s citizens. They urged the government to ratify the extension of the hospital investment’s contract till 2025 and to conduct the expected bidding to let the private sector manage the hospital according to the conditions stipulated by the decision of the NSSF’s board.       

Energy Minister Gibran Bassil had thanked Labor Minister Dr. Salim Jreissaty, the director general of the NSSF Dr. Mohammad Karki and the head of the governing board for refraining from closing Batroun Hospital.          

“We will rectify what has been deliberately vandalized by those who gained custody of the hospital and publicly led to its bankruptcy, to its shutdown and its transfer to the private sector”, Gibran said.