Lebanon’s healthcare system is deteriorating at an alarming pace, with key indicators pointing to a sector increasingly unable to meet the needs of its population, according to a report published in Nidaa Al-Watan on Tuesday. Years of compounded security, financial, economic, and political crises have left hospitals struggling to function, medical costs soaring, and access to care out of reach for many citizens.

Comprehensive healthcare has become both expensive and limited for most Lebanese families, while treatment costs continue to rise far beyond average incomes. The situation has been further aggravated by regional tensions and repeated Israeli attacks, which have placed additional strain on an already fragile system.

On September 27, 2024, World Health Organization spokesperson Margaret Harris warned that Lebanon’s health sector was facing severe challenges and that the number of wounded was steadily increasing due to ongoing hostilities.

As pressures mount, many hospitals are no longer able to operate at full capacity. Some have partially or completely shut down because of shortages in staff, equipment, and funding. At the same time, Lebanon is experiencing a significant exodus of medical professionals, with doctors and nurses leaving the country in search of stability and better opportunities abroad.

The departure of medical personnel has intensified shortages across the sector, affecting everything from emergency care to specialized treatment. Analysts warn that without serious structural reforms, Lebanon’s health system could face even deeper collapse.

A scientific study published in January 2025, titled “Physician Demography in Lebanon 2024,” paints a stark picture of the medical workforce. The report highlights a major imbalance in the distribution of doctors across specialties and regions, with significant shortages in many fields and an insufficient number of new graduates to fill the gaps.

The study warns that the continued loss of medical staff is directly undermining the quality and accessibility of healthcare. It calls for national strategies to retain physicians, encourage them to work in underserved areas, modernize professional training, and better align health services with community needs.

Dr. Bernard Gerbaka, former head of the Medical Committee at Lebanon’s Order of Physicians, said access to healthcare has become increasingly difficult for ordinary families.

“The percentage of Lebanese women and families facing difficulty accessing healthcare services rose from 25 percent in 2020 to 36 percent in 2025,” Gerbaka told Nidaa Al-Watan newspaper. “This is due to rising costs, inflation, and problems obtaining medications, vaccines, and infant formula.”

He added that around 80 percent of the population lacks comprehensive health coverage, forcing many uninsured patients to pay directly for treatment. Hospital stays have also declined, he said, as higher costs and weaker services push patients away.

Government funding for the sector has collapsed. According to Gerbaka, the Health Ministry’s budget plunged from $486 million in 2018 to just $37 million in 2022. As a result, patients have become increasingly dependent on personal spending and foreign aid.

The crisis has also forced 15 out of Lebanon’s 165 hospitals to partially halt operations, reducing national healthcare capacity by roughly 10 percent. In some regions, nearly 40 percent of hospital bed availability has been lost.

The flight of medical professionals has compounded the problem. Thousands of doctors left Lebanon between 2019 and 2021, driven out by the economic meltdown and the aftermath of the Beirut port explosion. Gerbaka estimates that around 1,000 physicians have emigrated since the October 2019 uprising, with 20 to 40 percent of medical staff leaving the country.

Although a small number have returned, most remain abroad where living and working conditions are far more stable.

The 2025 study confirms that the annual number of newly registered doctors is nowhere near enough to offset those leaving. Hospitals are increasingly unable to provide essential services, particularly in critical fields such as emergency medicine and obstetrics and gynecology.

It also found that doctors are heavily concentrated in major urban centers, leaving rural and southern regions underserved. Among the main drivers of migration are the collapse of salaries due to currency devaluation, weak social protections, and limited prospects for career development.

Despite the grim outlook, Gerbaka praised the Health Ministry for investing in Lebanon’s primary healthcare network, which he said has helped expand preventive care and reduce hospital admissions. But he warned that the system remains financially fragile.

On January 5, 2026, Lebanon’s parliamentary Finance and Budget Committee approved amendments to the Health Ministry budget, reallocating 8,000 billion Lebanese pounds to hospital care and 1,000 billion pounds to primary care centers, provided stricter oversight is implemented. The health minister acknowledged that even with these additions, the funding would cover less than a third of actual needs.

Still, Gerbaka expressed cautious optimism about the future.

“I have great faith that doctors will return to the country,” he said. “This wave of medical migration is not the first of its kind, and returns are inevitable, as we have seen after previous crises. Lebanon still has strong medical capabilities, advanced specialized centers, and one of the most prominent healthcare systems in the region.”

He noted that the private sector continues to play a crucial role in filling gaps left by the public system, and that demand for services through primary care networks has increased in several areas.

The 2025 study concludes with a call for urgent and comprehensive reforms, including improved working conditions in public hospitals, incentives to retain doctors in critical specialties, and long-term strategies to rebuild the health workforce.

Without such structural interventions, the report warns, Lebanon will continue to lose its physicians, and, with them, any realistic hope of sustainable healthcare for its people.