The Public Health, Labor and Social Affairs Committee held a meeting this morning in the Parliament, headed by Representative Bilal Abdullah and in the presence of Minister of Information Paul Morcos, in addition to member representatives and representatives of the relevant departments.
After the session ended, Representative Abdullah stated that the committee devoted its meeting to discussing the chaos spreading in the cosmetic medicine sector, due to serious violations that affect the health of patients and harm Lebanon’s medical reputation.
He explained that the cosmetic medicine sector is subject to a law issued in 2017, which aims to preserve Lebanon’s reputation, enhance its position in health tourism, and ensure citizens’ access to excellent, high-quality cosmetic medicine services at a reasonable and reasonable cost. However, he expressed his regret that there are many problems and flaws in the application, considering that the responsibility is shared, but a large part of it falls on licensed doctors who are not physically present or responsible for practicing aesthetic medicine, which is a clear violation of the law.
Abdullah stressed that importing companies also bear a great responsibility, as some of them, in order to increase their profits, provide training and pharmaceutical supplies, such as “Botox and fillers,” to doctors who are not legally authorized to practice this profession.
He also pointed out that responsibility also extends to importers of medical devices, especially laser devices, which are sold to persons and centers that are not legally licensed, considering that all of this constitutes a serious transgression and a direct harm to Lebanon’s reputation and the level of medicine in it.
Abdullah revealed the presence of a “large army of impersonators” who are active on social media and engage in actions that harm patients, harm Lebanon’s medical reputation, and constitute unfair competition for specialists.
He explained that these issues were the focus of discussion at today’s meeting, in the presence of all relevant unions, noting that the discussion was detailed and focused on how to implement the law effectively, to preserve Lebanon’s reputation and on sound foundations to prepare for health tourism, without distorting Lebanese and non-Lebanese as a result of wrong practices.
He indicated that the recommendations will be issued soon, pointing to the Minister of Information’s participation in the meeting with the aim of controlling media performance, criticizing some media outlets and communication platforms that harm this medical sector.
Abdullah stressed that cosmetic medicine “is not additional medicine, but rather complete medicine in every sense of the word,” and is subject to internationally approved scientific and societal rules and standards.
At the conclusion of his statement, he stressed that the committee asked the unions to be strict against violators, and would also ask State Security and the Ministry of Health to intensify prosecutions in licensed and unlicensed centers, in addition to asking the competent judiciary to tighten penalties, saying: “It is not enough to close a center to reopen it elsewhere. We want deterrent penalties, and we ask the judiciary to contribute with us in protecting this medical practice in Lebanon.”
