Parliamentary Health Committee puts the finishing touches on epidemic response law

The parliamentary Committee on Public Health, Labor and Social Affairs held a meeting chaired by MP Bilal Abdallah, during which it reviewed a number of health and social files on its agenda and approved the draft law contained in Decree No. 3228, concerning the conclusion of a loan agreement between the Lebanese state and the World Bank worth $200 million, allocated to support the project to strengthen social safety and develop the systems associated with it.

The committee also discussed two draft laws related to the establishment of the National Center for Epidemiological Surveillance and Infectious Diseases, and protection from epidemics and their spread, as part of efforts to enhance national preparedness to confront health crises.

During the session, MP Abdel Rahman Bizri, in his capacity as head of the subcommittee tasked with studying the two proposals, presented an overview of the stages of work on the file, explaining that a unified draft had been prepared combining the two proposals after a series of consultations with a number of experts and specialists in the field of epidemics and pandemics.

After reviewing the new draft, the committee decided to grant its members sufficient time to study its content, with subsequent meetings to be held to discuss it in detail article by article, in preparation for its approval within a period not exceeding two weeks.