The Ministry of Health in Lebanon has implemented new regulations regarding the distribution of cancer treatment medications after a scandal involving the theft of a sizable quantity of medicine supplied by an American charity,

The American organization ANERA gave a significant quantity of the cancer immunotherapy medication "Opdivo" to the Ministry. After two weeks, the supply expected to last for around two and a half months vanished.

Caretaker Minister of Public Health Dr. Firas Abiad hosted two sessions at the ministry with members of organizations that aid cancer patients and doctors with expertise in the treatment of malignant tumors.

Abiad provided details on a project to track and manage the distribution of drugs in Lebanon. It will be piloted by the beginning of September in collaboration with six academic hospitals that treat cancer patients.

The most noticeable aspect of such tracking is the introduction of a Unique ID designed specifically for Lebanese patients, along with the Face Scan feature to check for fraud.

According to the new procedures, the patient will be registered in a software called "Aman," which enables electronic submission of the health and medical file to the relevant Ministry of Public Health committee, which is in charge of approving or rejecting the file to get the medication.

Regarding patients who require hospitalization in order to receive their medication, the ministry will act as a regulator between hospitals and drug import businesses to ensure that the medication is delivered straight to the hospital through a certain mechanism.

At a time when the medicine entering Lebanon meets more than 80% of needs, the Minister of Health claimed that this full track to trace the movement of pharmaceuticals would put an end to the market's frequent interruptions.