In a UN new brief, Dr Akihiro Seita noted that UNRWA was the only solution for Palestinian refugees needing primary hospital care.
“In Lebanon, where there are around 480,000 refugees registered with UNRWA, its medical director Dr Akihiro Seita, said that the agency was the “only solution” for primary and lifesaving hospital care for these displaced people.”
(Source: UN News, “News in Brief 24 May 2022”, 24 May 2022)
In a paper published in the Global Journal of Health in March 2022, it was noted that Palestinian refugees in Lebanon are ineligible for the State’s healthcare services.
“Lebanon currently also has approximately half a million Palestine refugees who are registered with the UNRWA. Close to half of these reside in camps with complicated health problems emerging from the deteriorating living conditions, low wages, high poverty and deprivation. Palestinian refugees in Lebanon are ineligible for the State’s health care services. They can only access health care through private sectors, which have high fees, or by international organizations such as UNRWA. UNRWA operates 28 primary health care facilities, providing both preventive and curative care. The UNRWA formed an agreement with Palestine Red Crescent Society (PRCS) to provide equity for Palestinian refugees in accessing secondary health care services. The UNRWA also works on decreasing the financial burden borne by the refugees by providing services such as family planning, preconception care, antenatal and postnatal follow-up, infant care, school health, oral health, outpatient consultations, diagnostics, laboratory services, vaccination, among others. In other words, UNRWA is playing the role of the Ministry of Health to provide Palestine refugees with essential health care services.”
(Source: Shadi Saleh, Sarah Ibrahim, Jasmin Lilian Diab, Mona Osman, “Integrating refugees into national health systems amid political and economic constraints in the EMR: Approaches from Lebanon and Jordan”, 12 March 2022, Volume 12, Journal of Global Health)
In its series of country reports for 2021, the US Department of State wrote about Lebanon:
“Palestinian refugees typically could not access public-health and education services [...].”
(Source: US Department of State (USDOS) “2021 Country Reports on Human Rights Practices: Lebanon”, Section 2. Respect for Civil Liberties, March 2022, p. 29)
In a public letter to the UNHCR published by UNRWA in June 2021, the relief agency stated that:
“Palestine refugees have limited access to public services in Lebanon [UNHCR 2016]. As such most Palestine refugees rely entirely on UNRWA for health care unless they can afford private health insurance. For Palestine refugees registered with UNRWA in Lebanon, UNRWA health services comprise primary health care that includes preventive interventions and general medical consultations, in addition to the coverage of 90 per cent of the costs of secondary hospital admissions and 60 per cent for tertiary admissions in selected hospitals. However, due to the significant costs of hospitalization in Lebanon for Palestine refugees without private health insurance, the sum not covered by UNRWA is still considered high, particularly for those with complex and/or chronic needs. Currently, for example, with limited exceptions [50 per cent of the cost for selected medication for cancer cases, 80 per cent for multiple sclerosis, and 95 per cent for thalassemia cases]. UNRWA is also not able to provide medications for chronic conditions. As a consequence, UNRWA is not able to provide comprehensive medical support to persons with disabilities with chronic medical needs. The additional costs will be prohibitive for many Palestine refugee families.”
(Source : UNRWA, “Letter from UNRWA to UNHCR in the case of NB and AB v. SSHD before the Court of Justice of the European Union (Case C-349/20).”, 21 June 2021, p. 5)
Human Rights Watch reported in an article about Lebanon’s vaccination campaign in April 2021 that:
“They [Palestinians] can get health care only through the private sector, which charges prohibitively high fees, or through international organizations like UNRWA.”
(Source: Human Rights Watch, “Lebanon: Refugees, Migrants Left Behind in Vaccine RolloutEnsure Greater Information Access”, 6 April 2021)
UNRWA noted that even those Palestine refugees in Lebanon who work and contribute to the National Social Security Fund are excluded from the sickness fund.
“PRL who have the right to work, are required to contribute to the Lebanese National Social Security Fund (NSFF) but are “still excluded from family allowance and the sickness and maternity fund”
(Source: UNRWA: “Protection brief Palestine refugees living in Lebanon Updated in September 2020”, Updated September 2020, p. 1)
The World Food Programme reported in June 2020 about the majority of Palestinian refugees in Lebanon without access to health insurance:
“Impact on healthcare
Public and private health care in Lebanon vary significantly as public health practitioners have always been underpaid compared to those providing private health care. Private hospitals account for 82 percent of Lebanon’s health care capacity [Human Rights Watch 2019], which is unaffordable and inaccessible to many. Since mid-2019, medical equipment importers, for both public and private hospitals in Lebanon, began facing difficulties in bringing medical supplies into the country due to the shortage of US dollars, which was exacerbated further in November due to the unofficial devaluation of the Lebanese pound. This has become more alarming with the emergence of the global pandemic. Around 95 percent of Palestinian refugees do not have health insurance in Lebanon which means they are heavily reliant on the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA) and other sources to cover hospital fees. As a result, most are completely dependent on Palestinian Red Crescent Society (PRCS) hospitals for medical care.”
(Source: WFP “Assessing the Impact of the Economic and COVID-19 Crises in Lebanon”, June 2020, p. 17)
In the internationally recognised book they published in 2020, legal scholars Dr. Francesca Albanese [currently Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Palestinian Territory] and Professor Lex Takkenberg wrote:
“As foreigners, Palestinian refugees do not have access to Lebanese public health services and rely mainly on UNRWA for health services, in addition to assistance from charities. Through UNRWA, they can access primary health care, although not all medical services and treatments are possible through UNRWA clinics; UNRWA financially assists refugees with partial cost coverage for treatment in secondary and tertiary health care in UNRWA-contracted hospitals. UNRWA’s frequent funding shortages hamper its capacity to meet refugees’ demands.”
(Source: “Francesca P. Albanese and Lex Takkenberg/Oxford University Press, Palestinian Refugees in International Law”, May 2020, Chapter 3.3.3, Legal Status and Treatment, p. 276)