{"pk":62039,"title":"Solutions for the “Vanishing Drug” Conundrum in Lebanon: A Change in the Subsidy System Coupled with a Digital Prescribing Platform ","subtitle":null,"abstract":"<p>The shortage of foreign currency in Lebanon due to the multiple crises that the country has been facing since October 2019 poses a threat to the importation and availability of pharmaceutical products among other essential commodities. This has been remedied by an importation subsidy system for pharmaceuticals financed by the central bank’s foreign reserves. However, patients have recently experienced shortages of many drugs on pharmacy shelves. In this paper, we describe the pharmaceutical supply chain in Lebanon along with the subsidy system put in place by the central bank. We then propose recommendations to improve this subsidy system and enhance prescribing practices in order to ensure the continuous presence of medications on pharmacy shelves, and that the foreign currency supplied by the central bank is spent to the benefit of the Lebanese patient. </p>","language":"eng","license":{"name":"Creative Commons Attribution 4.0","short_name":"CC BY 4.0","text":"Attribution — You must give appropriate credit, provide a link to the license, and indicate if changes were made. You may do so in any reasonable manner, but not in any way that suggests the licensor endorses you or your use.\n\nNo additional restrictions — You may not apply legal terms or technological measures that legally restrict others from doing anything the license permits.","url":"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0"},"keywords":[{"word":"crisis"},{"word":"Economics"},{"word":"Lebanon"},{"word":"Pharmaceutical Preparations"}],"section":"Review Article","is_remote":true,"remote_url":"https://escholarship.org/uc/item/39k839w2","frozenauthors":[{"first_name":"Nadim","middle_name":"","last_name":"El Jamal","name_suffix":"MD","institution":"Faculty of Medicine, American University of Beirut Medical Center","department":"Division of Cardiology","country":"Lebanon"},{"first_name":"Ulfat","middle_name":"","last_name":"Usta","name_suffix":"Pharm.D, MS","institution":"American University of Beirut Medical Center","department":"Department of Pharmacy","country":"Lebanon"},{"first_name":"Mona","middle_name":"","last_name":"Nasrallah","name_suffix":"MD","institution":"Faculty of Medicine, American University of Beirut Medical Center","department":"Division of Cardiology","country":"Lebanon"},{"first_name":"Elie","middle_name":"","last_name":"Al-Chaer","name_suffix":"PhD, JD","institution":"Faculty of Medicine, American University of Beirut Medical Center","department":"Department of Anatomy, Cell Biology and Physiological Sciences","country":"Lebanon"},{"first_name":"Ghassan","middle_name":"","last_name":"Hamadeh","name_suffix":"MD, CPE","institution":"Faculty of Medicine, American University of Beirut Medical Center","department":"Department of Family Medicine","country":"Lebanon"},{"first_name":"Hussain","middle_name":"","last_name":"Isma’eel","name_suffix":"MD","institution":"Faculty of Medicine, American University of Beirut Medical Center","department":"Division of Cardiology","country":"Lebanon"}],"date_submitted":null,"date_accepted":null,"date_published":"2023-04-12T13:29:00Z","render_galley":null,"galleys":[{"label":"PDF","type":"pdf","path":"https://journalpub.escholarship.org/uciem_medjem/article/62039/galley/48686/download/"}]}