Lebanon’s Minister of Public Health, Dr. Firass Abiad, has launched a new program called Meditrack, which aims to track drugs for cancer and intractable diseases.
Training courses on the program have started for public and private hospitals, with the first session held at the Hariri University Hospital for twenty public and private hospitals.
Under the Meditrack information program, each patient will have a Unique Health ID card that will ensure that they have their medication box marked with a barcode circulated amongst pharmacies, hospitals, importers, and warehouses to track the movement of the drug.
The Meditrack program is intended in the first phase for expensive cancer and intractable drugs and, in later stages, to include other drugs.
Dr. Abiad explained that “it is necessary to control the movement of medicine and reduce the suffocating effects of Lebanon’s extremely difficult financial situation.”
This system prevents the smuggling, monopoly, or storage of meds and ensures that the med only reaches the intended patient, according to Dr. Abiad.
This new of its kind program in Lebanon, which is implemented and developed by the national e-health program of the Health Ministry, has ensued with the support of WHO and the European Union.
No specific date was given of when the program will be in place and used by patients and health institutions.
Training courses are still ongoing to explain the procedure of this program amongst public and private hospitals.
