Libanon. Access Under Fire: OST in Wartime Lebanon
Libanon. Access Under Fire: OST in Wartime Lebanon
On 3 March, one day after Israel bombed Beirut as part of its widening military operations on Lebanon, Lebanon’s Narcotics Department of the Ministry of Public Health, in charge of the Opioid Substitution Therapy (OST, also known as OAT) programme, announced an exceptional measure allowing OST patients to receive one month worth of medication per prescription. The prescriptions were previously capped at two weeks, even in times of crisis, and requests to extend them were repeatedly rejected by the ministry. Amid war, chaos and destruction, this piece of news provided much needed relief to over one thousand OST service users in Lebanon.
People on OST have had it rough over the past six years. Medication shortages, price hikes, successive waves of Israeli attacks and the ongoing war have repeatedly jeopardised their ability to safely access and afford this essential medicine. (Talking Drugs, UK, 03.04.2026)
https://www.talkingdrugs.org/access-under-fire-ost-in-wartime-lebanon/