Health Ministry Picks Up Hospital Tab for Uninsured Lebanese Actress

Some two million people in Lebanon do not have health insurance. And, as succinctly put in a Daily Star newspaper article published on Wednesday, “Many Lebanese are forced to make use of their connections with MPs and state officials in order to be admitted to a hospital, at the expense of the Health Ministry.

That’s exactly what happened to Lebanese actress and comedian, Amalia Abi Saleh this week.

On Tuesday, her friend and fellow actress, Lilane Nemri, posted a picture of Amalia on her Facebook page saying that Saleh was being refused hospital care because she doesn’t have health insurance.

“Amalia is not a nobody in this country,” Nemri wrote, adding, “where are the deputies, the ministers and the hospitals’ conscience?” Saleh is known for her roles in several of Ziad Rahbani’s plays and also for starring in the “Al-Moalima Wa al-Ustez” series back in the 1980s.

Nemri’s plea worked. After some 6,251 shares on Facebook, Nemri updated her post thanking Health Minister Ali Hassan Khalil for picking up the tab. “Amalia will now be hospitalized to get proper treatment as soon as possible,” said Nemri.

If only we could all be so lucky. Wasta wins in this country… every time. Every time.

Meantime on Wednesday, a Future Movement MP announced a plan to provide free hospital services to those currently without heath care. Here’s hoping…