Summary
Red Cross, health NGOs see cash slashed in draft budget
Nearly two dozen organizations providing health care to underprivileged Lebanese are set to have their government funding slashed by up to 40 percent.
That included cuts to many state institutions as well as NGOs.
Caritas is also funded through the Social Affairs Ministry, but that line is also set to be cut by 10 percent.
The Children's Cancer Center of Lebanon is scheduled to see a $66,000 cut -- 10 percent of their funding from the Health Ministry.
MP Ibrahim Kanaan, chair of Parliament's Finance and Budget Committee, told The Daily Star that the committee had not yet examined the Health Ministry's budget, so it is unclear how that change would have been made.
Health Minister Jamil Jabak said that Cabinet had decided to cut funding to NGOs by 20 percent due to the drive to slash the budget deficit.
"Because we have this economic crisis in Lebanon, they wanted to cut the budget for everyone," Jabak said.
But he also said he had compensated for some of the cuts within the Health Ministry's budget, while others would be made up from outside the ministry.
...