The Economist newspaper reported on Saturday that the doctors in the Arab world and the Middle East are leaving their countries and travel abroad in search of better working and financial conditions.
The Lebanese health-care system was once the envy of the Middle East as wealthy people were heading to Lebanon. Private clinics and hospitals were staffed by doctors trained at top places in the West, according to The Economist.
Wealthy patients from all over the Arab world came for treatment. Today, though, it’s the doctors who get on the flights. One surgeon reports that his wage paid in local currency is worth around $200 a month—less than a dollar an hour.
Another claims that his hospital was destroyed by an explosion on 4 August in the port of Beirut. They both apply for work abroad, joining a long exodus of Arab doctors.
The Middle East is hunkering down as COVID-19 cases are increasing, the same in the northern hemisphere.
In Lebanon, where more than 80% of intensive-care beds are occupied, the government ordered most businesses to shut on November 14th.
The Lebanese government-directed many businesses to shut on November 14th as more than 80% of intensive-care beds are occupied.
A curfew was imposed in Tunisia and travel between regions was suspended. In other countries, governments are studying the same measures to be applied. But the closures offer scant relief for doctors forced to fight the virus short-handed.
