The Hotel Dieu Hospital in Beirut's Ashrafieh said on Sunday that its doors are still open to all patients with health coverage from the Minister of Health, one day after the latter declared that it had terminated the contact with the facility because it refused to admit a patient with a disability. In a statement published on Sunday in this regard, the hospital announced its commitment to treating emergency cases of patients who are covered by the Health Ministry. The patient, who was neither covered by the National Social Security Fund nor insured by a private insurance company, was due to undergo the procedure at the expense of the Health Ministry. The hospital responded by saying that it did not refuse to admit the patient who visited the facility earlier this month, but instead postponed the procedure since the patient was not deemed to be in urgent need of the operation. According to the statement, postponing the surgery was also due to the fact that the operation required a one month stay in the hospital which meant that arrangements had to be made in cooperation with the physicians' schedules and the availability of rooms at the said hospital. The hospital claimed that it had told the family of the patient that they would be informed about the date of the surgery when all preparations were done. In response, the Health Ministry also released a statement on Sunday, refuting the hospital's version of events. The statement said that patient Loris Khalil, who was given a disability card by Dr. Khalil Kharat, an orthopedic specialist at Hotel Dieu, visited the hospital earlier this month after suffering from severe inflammation in her feet. The patient who has been suffering from the disability since she fell off the fifth floor of her building in 2013, decided to undergo surgery after visiting Dr. Gabriel Saliba, another physician in the said hospital. In turn, Salbia had ordered her to complete the required paperwork and said that the hospital would contact her when arrangements for the procedure were done. However, the hospital did not contact Khalil, prompting the intervention of Health Minister Wael Abou Faour who tasked a ministerial official with ensuring the hospital’s compliance with treating the patient. During talks, the hospital's president constantly refused to carry out the surgery due to the operation’s high cost and the facility's contract was therefore terminated, the statement said. As a result of the contract cancellation, Hotel Dieu will no longer be permitted to treat patients covered by the ministry. Sunday’s statement also warned that any hospital that “humiliates citizens” in a similar manner will meet the same fate.